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

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

known by the common names coiled lousewort and curved-beak lousewort. It is native to western North America, including southwestern Canada and the northwestern United States, where it grows in moist mountainous habitat, such as

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 musk ...

s, shady forests, and meadows. It is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

producing one or more stems up to tall from a

caudex A caudex (: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is most ...

. The leaves are up to long, lance-shaped to oblong, and divided into many linear lobes which may be toothed or smooth-edged. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, 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 ...

of flowers occupying the top of the stem. Each flower is a centimeter long or slightly longer, white to yellowish in color, and divided into a coiled or curved beak-like upper lip and a flat, three-lobed lower lip. The fruit is a capsule up to a centimeter long containing seeds with netted surfaces.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto galleryTurner Photographics

contorta ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, ...

Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Flora of Western Canada Flora of the Klamath Mountains Taxa named by George Bentham Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Orobanchaceae-stub