oneflower cancer-root, Orobanche uniflora

How to make sure you're at home almost anywhere? Sunlight or shade, damp or dry, in various soils? Be a parasite! These pretty little flowers have no greenery. Their roots feed on a great variety of species. So when you're stealing the next guy's food, it doesn't matter much where he got it from. These flowers are a little over a half inch, one per stem, the stems not more than six inches tall. Oneflowered cancer-root grows in every state and province except HI, LB, MB, NT, NU, and YT, and on SPM. Ives Fen Preserve, Lenawee Co MI, 5/12/12. Broomrape family, Orobanchaceae.