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Description
You may ask yourself why I call this delicate plant a killer. Well, because it really can be a killer: Orobanche ramosa, or, as some botanists call it, Phelipanche ramosa - common English names are hemp broomrape and branching broomrape. The broomrape completely lacks leaves and chlorophyll, so it is parasitic on other plants, draining nutrients and water from their roots. In former times it often occurred as a pest in agricultural fields and infested crops including tobacco, potato, and tomato, thus causing considerable damage and rural poverty due to massive crop failures.

The English Wikipedia stated that Orobanche ramosa is native to Europe and North Africa and an introduced species in other places (such as North America). In my opinion, however, it is more likely that it happened the other way round, since it prefers American members of the Nightshade family Solanaceae (tobacco, potato, tomato) as host plants. So I guess it was introduced to Europe together with them. Orobanche ramosa also infects Cannabis, as the common German name "Hanfwürger" (="Cannabis slayer" or "Cannabis strangler") suggests. It has become very rare in Germany, however, and almost lost its harmful potential in our region. I have been growing this broomrape for a couple of years now, in a pot together with Oxalis pes-caprae, a South African sorrel, but it does not flower in every year.

Description
You may ask yourself why I call this delicate plant a killer. Well, because it really can be a killer: Orobanche ramosa, or, as some botanists call it, Phelipanche ramosa - common English names are hemp broomrape and branching broomrape. The broomrape completely lacks leaves and chlorophyll, so it is parasitic on other plants, draining nutrients and water from their roots. In former times it often occurred as a pest in agricultural fields and infested crops including tobacco, potato, and tomato, thus causing considerable damage and rural poverty due to massive crop failures.

The English Wikipedia stated that Orobanche ramosa is native to Europe and North Africa and an introduced species in other places (such as North America). In my opinion, however, it is more likely that it happened the other way round, since it prefers American members of the Nightshade family Solanaceae (tobacco, potato, tomato) as host plants. So I guess it was introduced to Europe together with them. Orobanche ramosa also infects Cannabis, as the common German name "Hanfwürger" (="Cannabis slayer" or "Cannabis strangler") suggests. It has become very rare in Germany, however, and almost lost its harmful potential in our region. I have been growing this broomrape for a couple of years now, in a pot together with Oxalis pes-caprae, a South African sorrel, but it does not flower in every year.