Friday Fabulous Flower - Yellow False Foxglove

True foxgloves generally refer to the genus Digitalis. False foxgloves refer to a number of plants in what was formerly the snapdragon family, now fragmented and variously assigned based upon new phylogenetic findings, but all have large diameter tubular corollas, the sort of thing a fox might use as gloves. Today's fabulous flower is Aureolaria grandiflora, native to dry upland forest glades and river bluffs here in Lincolnland. The big yellow flowers are pretty showy, and the plant is pretty handsome, but it's not been introduced into horticulture because of one interesting fact: it's a root parasite that specializes on oak trees. It's also green, so we call it a hemiparasite, and that's one of the attractions for botanists. Why be green if you're a parasite, and conversely, why be a parasite if you're green? All such former members of the snapdragon family are presently placed in the Broom-rape family (Orobanchaceae). These are generally pollinated by bumblebees that crawl inside to tube to reach the nectar below. The top of this flower is to the upper right and the anthers and stigma are positioned in the "top" of the tube.