Scientific Family
Santalaceae
Synonyms
Comandra pallida
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Perennial
Height
To 1 foot
Riparian
No
Can manufacture its own food, but it is also parasitic, obtaining nutrients from the roots of a variety of plants. It is the alternate host to a fungal rust that attacks ponderosa pine and lodgepole trees.
Erect perennial, rhizomatous; root-parasitic on a variety of plants; stems marked with lines, branching freely at base; leaves alternate, narrow to lance-shaped to ovate; flowers in compact terminal and subterminal clusters, white to pink to purplish.
Habitat
Found on slopes, often rocky.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Montane Conifer Forest
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Low elevation
500
High elevation
8500
Flower Characteristics
The small, tubular flowers consist of 5 white to pink to purplish petals in a star shape. The flowers are massed in an umbrella like cluster, each cluster 3 to 6 flowers.
Flower color
White to pink to purplish
Flower shape
Regular
Tubular
Yes
First bloom month
April
Last bloom month
August
Flower clusters
Rounded
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
The lance-shaped green leaves are short, fleshy, somewhat thick, resembling leaves of a succulent.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Green
Leaf shape
Narrow
Leaf margin
Smooth
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
None
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Round to oval shaped with the remaining sepals on the tips. A 1-seeded simple fruit developed from a superior ovary in which the innermost portion of the wall (endocarp) becomes hard and stony.
Fruit type
Other
Fruit color
Blue to brown
Rounded.