Lathraea clandestina

Lathraea clandestina L., called Lathrée clandestine , is a plant which pushes preferably in the wet places, edges of brooks, etc, where it parasite various trees (poplars, willows, alders, oaks or hazel trees) at the expense which it is nourished. It has neither sheets nor chlorophyl, and draws its food in the roots of its hosts thanks to suçoirs.

The plant, which can weigh several kilos, consists of covered white underground stems of fleshy scales. The flowers appear with the short-nap cloth of the ground in April - May. The ripe fruits are able to project large seeds at a certain distance in surrounding space. The plant disappears then from surface until next spring. The seedlings developed starting from seeds will spend approximately ten years before producing their first flowers.

This plant, which classically forms part of the family of the Orobanchaceae , is currently often attached to that of the Scrophulariaceae .

Distribution

The plant is with mainly Atlantic distribution, from Belgium, where is locally abundant in the Flemish Ardennes, as far as Spain. It is also locally present in Italy. It moreover is introduced that and there elsewhere in Belgium, in the Netherlands and in England. In France, one generally finds it in the West, South-west and the Pyrenees. It is protected in certain departments.

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