Foothills, montane. Openings, shrublands, woodlands. Summer.
Lone Mesa State Park, June 11, 2008.

This is a common Orobanchaceae parasitic usually on Sagebrush but also on various Salt Bushes and other plants in Pinyon/Juniper forests.  It can grow to about six inches tall but is more typically only one-to-four inches tall.  

This plant was collected by Thomas Nuttall "in sandy alluvial soils, around Fort Mandan" [quotation from Intermountain Flora] in 1811 or 1812 and was named Orobanche fasciculata by Nuttall in his 1818 Genera of North American Plants.  Weber prefers the 1856 name of Aphyllon fasciculatum given by Torrey and Gray.

Foothills, montane. Openings, shrublands, woodlands. Summer.
Lone Mesa State Park, June 11, 2008.