Orobanche
The European broomrape species / Die Sommerwurzarten Europas
Vol. 1: Central and Northern Europe / Mittel- und Nordeuropa
C. A. J. Kreutz

The broomrapes (Orobanche) belong to the most interesting plants in the world, and with their colourful flowers (ranging from bright yellow to violet or iridescent red), they are as beautiful as the much better known orchids. Many species show a wide variety in their overall appearance and the colour of their flowers. The different species are not easy to identify, and errors cannot be excluded! As yet, there is no book incorporating all European Orobanche species with full colour photographs, distribution maps and drawings. Most descriptions, usually without photographs, have been published in national and international floras.

This new book is intended as a contribution to the easy and rapid identification of all species. Identification is supported by a key, by drawings of side views of the corolla, as well as of the stamens (filaments and anthers) and the carpel (style, stigma and ovary) and by specifications of the distribution (range). Five colour photographs of each species (appearance/biotope, inflorescence, detail of inflorescence, side and front views of an individual flower) further facilitate identification.

The general, introductory section includes chapters on the systematic position of the broomrapes, as well as on their taxonomy and nomenclature characteristics, pollination, germination and propagation, morphology, host plants, biotope (ecology), distribution, conservation, adventive locations, crop damage and their control in agricultural environments. This is followed by a section on the identification of the central and northern European broomrape species, consisting of a discussion of the structure of the flower, a glossary of terms in German, English and Dutch, suggestions for identification, a key to the Orobanche species of central and northern Europe, and detailed descriptions of the individual species. This book is bilingual (German and English), with terminology of the structrure of the flower and the glossary of terms in Dutch as well.

This book covers all northern and central European species. The southern (especially Mediterranean) species will be the subject of part two. Together, the two volumes will constitute the first review of the European broomrapes.

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