A rather small family, resembling Scrophulariaceae, widely distributed;
parasitic herbs, without green foliage, with alternate scales instead
of leaves; flowers perfect, irregular; calyx five-cleft, or split on
one or both sides; corolla two-lipped; stamens four, in pairs, with
slender filaments, on the corolla-tube (sometimes also the rudiment of
a fifth stamen); ovary superior, style slender, stigma disk-like, with
two or four lobes; fruit a capsule.
There are several kinds of Thalesia.
[Sidenote: =One-flowered Cancer-root=
_Thalèsia uniflòra (Orobanche)_
=Purplish
Spring, summer
Northwest, Utah, etc.=]
A queer little thing, but pretty and delicate, with a very short stem,
mostly underground, bearing one or more slender, slightly hairy, dull
yellow, scaly flower-stems from three to eight inches tall, each with a
single flower, less than an inch long, with a dull yellow, hairy calyx,
and a hairy, lilac corolla, tinged with dull yellow and veined with
purple, with two yellow ridges in the throat. This is not common and is
found across the continent.
[Illustration: Alpine Betony--Pedicularis centranthera.
Elephants' Heads--P. Groenlandica.