XCIII. OROBANCHACEA (STAPF.). 463 
few or many. Flowers in terminal racemes or spikes, supported by 
bracts and often also by bracteoles. 
Species over 130, almost exclusively in the northern hemisphere, particularly in 
the warm-temperate regions. 
Calyx tubular-campanulate, obtusely 4-5-lobed . -« 1. CrspaNnone. 
Calyx campanulate, acutely 3—5-dentate or 3—5-tid or 
split to the base in front and on the back. . 2. OROBANCHE. 
1, CISTANCHE, Hoffm. et Link; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 983. 
Calyx persistent, tubular-campanulate, 4- or 5-lobed ; lobes obtuse, 
rounded, subequal or the two posticous narrower. Corolla tubular 
below, more or less funnel-shaped above, more or less curved or at 
length abruptly bent; limb spreading, oblique, 5-lobed; lobes broad, 
equal or nearly so, Stamens 4, didynamous, subexserted, inserted deep 
down in the corolla-tube; anthers usually densely bearded and coherent 
by the hairs; cells parallel, often acute or mucronate at the base. Ovary 
l-celled, with 4 distinct placentas, many-ovuled ; style curved at the 
apex; stigma large, orbicular. Capsule 2-valved, dehiscing in the 
median plane. Seeds very numerous, minute, foveolate-reticulate.— 
Parasitic plants, variously coloured, destitute of chlorophyll, glabrous 
or cobwebby. Stems succulent, often bulbously thickened at the base, 
simple. Leaves reduced to fleshy scales. Flowers bracteate and 
2-bracteolate, spicate, rather large, white, yellow or purplish. 
Species about 10 in the dry regions of Portugal, Spain, North Africa, and 
through the Orient to India. 
1. C. lutea, Hoffng. & Link, Fl. Port. i. 319, t. 68, Stem swollen 
at the base (often more than lin, in diam.), stout, fleshy, like the whole 
plant (except the stamens and the inside of the corolla-tube), glabrous, 
4-1} ft. high. Scales fleshy, lurid purplish or tinged with yellow, lower 
crowded, triangular, caudate-acuminate or acute, upper ovate-lanceolate 
or lanceolate, scattered, 4 to 1 in. long, margins sometimes thin and 
more or less transparent. Spike cylindric, rounded at the top, or when 
young comose by the uppermost bracts, from a few inches to 1 ft. long, 
usually dense, rarely somewhat lax ; bracts ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 
as long as the calyx or shorter or longer, in substance and colour like 
the stem-scales ; bracteoles linear, about as long as the calyx. Calyx 
wide-tubular-campanulate, 6-10 lin. long, rarely longer, )-lobed to 4 
or almost } of its length; lobes broad, elliptic-oblong, rounded, more 
or less imbricate, margins membranous. Corolla bright yellow ; tube 
1-2 in. long, at first almost straight, then more or less curved, at length 
often abruptly bent at the middle, cylindric below the middle, wide 
funnel-shaped above it, more or less villous below the insertion ; lobes 
much broader than long, 2}-3 lin. long, rounded. Filaments hairy 
towards the base; anthers woolly, cells acute to mucronulate at the 
base.—Reichb. Pl. Crit. vii. t. 700, fig. 939. Lathrea Phelipea, Linn. 
