174 R^ Mr, Svrro^s Defer 'pthn of 



the diftance of about two-thirds from their bafe, and are tipped with 

 a globular fort of cup, bearing a vifcid gland : we may fuppofe them 

 to be intended to carry off iecretions, and to anfwer the purpofes of 

 leaves in performing the office of refpiration, &c. It is to the vola- 

 tility of the fe fecretions that we are to attribute the difficulty of 

 preierving living fpecimens for any length of time, and the harfh 

 ungracious appearance they affume in an herbarium. 



They emit no fmell il fpeak of thofe only which I am about to 

 defcribe), have an acrid aftringent tafte, and are rejected by all 

 kinds of animals, except the minuter tribes of Clmices and 

 Thripfes. 



They are acotyledons ; for, when a feed has attached itfelf to the 

 root of any living plant, to which it is fuited by its nature to adhere, 

 it 1 wells into a pellucid fquamofe gem or bulb ; and after throwing 

 out around the point of adhefion feveral tender fibres, it pufhes 

 up at once into a perfect, plant, without any lateral lobes or cotyle- 

 dons; developing firft the fquamae and then the ftalk, with a capi- 

 tulum of flowers concealed by bracleas, in form refembling a young 

 head of afparagus : the flowers afterwards expand in fucceffion up- 

 wards, and the capitulum becomes a fpike. See Tab. xvii. fig. i and 2. 

 — Adanfon has clafTed this genus among his monocotyledons. 



Notwithftanding what has been faid of the banefulnefs of the 

 Orobanche, that it deftroys the plants which feed it, I have had no 

 experience of the fact. : to me it has ever feemed to 



" Grow with their growth, and ftrengthen with their ftrength." 



Dr. William Turner, one of our earlieft and moil judicious 

 herbalifts, has given us the following account of it : he calls it 

 Choke-weed, and fays, *' It is called about Morpeth in Northumber- 

 land (the place of his nativity) Newe Chappel Flower, becaufe it 



6 grewe 



