Rare Parasitic Plant Clustered Broomrape Rediscovered in Wisconsin County After 44 Years of Absence

The unusual parasitic plant reappeared after 44 years, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The Wisconsin DNR stated in a news statement on May 3 that the recently unearthed plant was discovered on the dunes of Manitowoc County, facing Lake Michigan.

According to the DNR's 2022 Annual Report, one of the volunteers for the department's Rare Plant Monitoring Program, Tom Underwood, identified the parasitic plant as a clustered broomrape (Orobanche fasciculata).

Search for Clustered Broomrape

The study states that Underwood first set out to locate this population in 2018, but after a tiresome search up, over, and along deep, dry, and loose sand, he gave up.

This population was last observed in 1979.

The absence of information on the plant's last known location made the search more challenging.

According to the report, clustered broomrape is a little plant that is readily concealed by sand shifting, and DNR didn't have a lot of information on exactly where it was found.

The survey was likened to trying to find a proverbial needle in a haystack.

According to Mark Strong, a Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History botanist, the broomrapes are the largest family of parasitic plants.

These parasitic plants, according to the Wisconsin DNR, contain four to ten pedicels, or flower-supporting stalks, and flowers with a loose, flat-topped corymb, or flower cluster, with a long stalk that extends past the stem.

Nearly 15% of Wisconsin's 2,366 plant species are listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern because they are thought to be rare.

Rare Plants in Wisconsin

Volunteers from throughout Wisconsin submitted more than 220 reports of unusual plants in 2022, some from previously unreported places.

These new finds are highly exciting, according to Kevin Doyle, botanist and coordinator of the DNR's rare plant monitoring program.

They contribute to better monitoring and protection of Wisconsin's rare plant species by increasing knowledge of the quantity and distribution of these plants.

In Wisconsin, rare plants like clustered broomrape are extremely valuable.

Doyle claimed that some more difficult-to-find plants, such as some varieties of blueberries and cranberries, are utilized as food or medicinal, Milawaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

He continued by saying that another crucial step in the conservation process is for volunteers to return to well-known areas.

There is no way for the authorities to know when these populations are in peril if they don't check on them, FOX News reported.

Rare Plant Monitoring Program

Since 2013, volunteers have been trained and dispatched by the DNR's Rare Plant Monitoring Program to assess the number and health of rare native plant populations.

The program's extensive statewide surveys make it distinct from other volunteer programs in the Midwest and Wisconsin's largest source of information on uncommon plants.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Rare Plant Monitoring program is the greatest source of information on rare plants that is made up completely of volunteers in Wisconsin.

Volunteers in the Rare Plant Monitoring Program are educated in surveying methods, such as how to precisely estimate big plant numbers, evaluate habitat conditions, and utilize GPS coordinates to detect and mark rare plant populations; however, training in plant identification is not offered.