Geocaulon

''Geocaulon'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Santalaceae containing the single species ''Geocaulon lividum'', which is known by the common names northern comandra and false toadflax. It is native to northern North America, where it is common and widespread from Alaska to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and into the northernmost contiguous United States.''Geocaulon lividum''.
The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved 11-20-2011.Matthews, Robin F. 1994

In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Retrieved 11-20-2011. This plant is a perennial herb which grows from

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s located in the

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

. It produces stems up to tall and inflorescences with two or three greenish or purplish flowers, one of which is generally

perfect Perfect commonly refers to: * Perfection, completeness, excellence * Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages Perfect may also refer to: Film * Perfect (1985 film), ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama * Perfect (2018 f ...

while the others are male. The fruit is an orange

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

containing one seed. This plant grows as a hemiparasite on other species. It produces haustoria which tap the roots of host plants such as

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

, pine, birch, willow, alder, and twinflower. This plant grows in many types of moist

boreal Boreal may refer to: Climatology and geography *Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch *Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...

habitat. It occurs in many types of

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

ous and deciduous forests,

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s, and other wetlands. It is found in spruce forests on the taiga of Alaska and it is an indicator of continental

and cool temperate climate in British Columbia. It is found alongside plant species such as American green alder (''Alnus viridis'' ssp. ''crispa''),

bog Labrador tea ''Rhododendron groenlandicum'' (bog Labrador tea, muskeg tea, swamp tea, or in northern Canada, Hudson's Bay tea; formerly ''Ledum groenlandicum'' or ''Ledum latifolium'') is a flowering shrub with white flowers and evergreen leaves that is used ...

(''Ledum groenlandicum''), bearberry (''Arctostaphylos uva-ursi''), crowberry (''Empetrum nigrum''), twinflower (''Linnaea borealis''),

prickly rose ''Rosa acicularis'' is a flowering plant in the Rosaceae family. It is commonly known as the prickly wild rose, prickly rose, bristly rose, wild rose or Arctic rose. It is a species of wild rose with a Holarctic distribution in northern regions o ...

(''Rosa acicularis''), mountain cranberry (''Vaccinium vitis-idaea''), bog blueberry (''Vaccinium uliginosum''), highbush cranberry (''Viburnum edule''), bunchberry (''Cornus canadensis''), one-sided wintergreen (''Orthilia secunda''),

bluejoint reedgrass ''Calamagrostis canadensis'' is a species of grass, having three or more varieties, in the family Poaceae. It is known variously by the common names of bluejoint, bluejoint reedgrass, marsh reedgrass, Canadian reedgrass, meadow pinegrass, and ma ...

(''Calamagrostis canadensis''), horsetails (''Equisetum'' spp.), feathermosses (''Hylocomium splendens'' and ''Pleurozium schreberi''), and

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Santalaceae Monotypic Santalales genera