Bear-corn has no true leaves, merely tiny scales. It is achlorophyllous and does not need leaves as it lacks chlorophyll and cannot photosynthesize. The plant is a member of the Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, a family of parasitic plants. Bear-corn is always found near a "red oak", those oaks with bristles at the tips of the leaf lobes and whose acorns take two years to mature.

Orobanchs consist of about 180 species in 15 genera. The family is worldwide and, having lost the ability to photosynthesize, all depend on other plants to survive. Some species are parasitic on a group of plants like bear-corn is to any of the red oaks. Others are specific to a single species—Ivy broomrape (Orobanche hederae) can only survive on English ivy (Hedera helix).

Bear-corn has tiny seeds which are thought to only germinate when in the presence of their hosts and only near an actively growing root tip of the red oak. The seed's radicle (first root) grows toward and into the red oak's root until it contacts the vascular tissues. The root modifies into a haustorium, a specialized organ to absorb water, nutrients, and photosynthates (sugars and starches) directly from the transport vessels.

The derivation of the name 'squawroot' is uncertain. The plant is astringent and perhaps collected by medicine women to treat open wounds and bleeding. 'Bear-corn' is another matter. Bears do eat the inflorescences. Legend has it that the plant is a laxative and bears self-medicate to cure a stubborn case of constipation after a long winter's nap.

(Compiled from: An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Nathaniel Lord Britton and Hon. Addison Brown, Dover Publications, Inc., NY, 1970; Contemporary Plant Systematics, Dennis W. Woodland, Prentice Hall, NJ, 1991; "Steward of the Good Earth", Marian St. Clair, GreenvilleOnline.com, The Greenville News, SC, May 17, 2005 and "The Parasitism of Conopholis americana on Quercus borealis", W. Clement Percival, American Journal of Botany, Dec. 1931)