Stem unbranched, reddish or reddish purple, glandular hairy and swollen at the base. Scale-leaves oblong to lanceolate, pointed bracts lanceolate. Flowers dull cream tinged with reddish purple towards the end, 12 to 22 mm long, corolla narrowed in the throat, the upper lip slightly yellow.

Woodland, hedgerows etc. parasitic on ivy.

June and July.

Perennial herb - this is a holoparasite which is completely parasitic on ivy. Plants of this type generally have no chlorophyll and cannot exist without a host plant.

Local in southern England, mainly coastal in Wales and scarce elsewhere in Britain.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.