Conopholis americana

Species of flowering plant

Conopholis americana, the American cancer root, bumeh or bear corn, is a perennial, non photosynthesizing (or "achlorophyllous") parasitic plant. It is from the family Orobanchaceae and more recently from the genus Conopholis but also listed as Orobanche, native but not endemic to North America. When blooming, it resembles a pine cone or cob of corn growing from the roots of mostly oak and beech trees.

Conopholis americana is parasitic on the roots of woody plants, especially oaks (genus Quercus) and beech (genus Fagus). The entire structure is a yellowish color, turning to brown.

The plant has stout and unbranched to thick stems. Since C. americana does not photosynthesize it also does not have true leaves; it has instead simple, ovate, tiny scales long and brown, which appear at the base of each flower.

Conopholis americana produces spikes of yellow to cream flowers densely crowded all around the stem. Each flower is 5 parted, to long, tubular with a swollen base and facing downwards. As the flowering spike matures it begins to wither and becomes brown throughout the summer and often persisting through the winter, by which time it has become shriveled and black. There is no noticeable floral scent.

Each flower is replaced by a seed capsule that is longer than it is wide and contains many small seeds. This plant spreads to new locations by reseeding itself.

The root system is parasitic on the roots of oak trees (Quercus spp. ); dependent on the host tree for its nourishment, the suckers of the parasitic roots cause the formation of large rounded knobs on the roots of the host tree.