''Pedicularis racemosa'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family of mostly parasitic plants of the order Lamiales, with about 90 genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera (e.g., ''Pedicularis'', ''Rhinanthus'', ''Striga'') were formerly included in the ...

known by the common names sickletop lousewort and leafy lousewort. It is native to western North America, where it grows in

coniferous forests Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

. This is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

producing several stems up to tall, greenish to dark red in color. The leaves are up to long, linear in shape and lined with teeth. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a small

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

of flowers occupying the top of the stem. Each white to light purple or yellow flower is up to long and is divided into a curved or coiled beak-like upper lip and a wide three-lobed lower lip. The fruit is a capsule over a centimeter in length containing smooth seeds.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
racemosa Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of California Flora of Arizona Flora of British Columbia Flora of New Mexico Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora of the Rocky Mountains Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Taxa named by George Bentham Taxa named by William Jackson Hooker Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Orobanchaceae-stub