Orobanche. OROBAXCHACE^E. 311 



perianth, with didynamous stamens and the dimerous pistil of all the related 

 orders, but the stigmas and the placentae sometimes divided or separated so as 

 apparently to 1)6 four : all the flower commonly marcescent-persisteut. Corolla 

 ringent. Anthers always 2-celled. Ovary ovoid, pointed with a mostly long 

 style: stigma sometimes peltate or disc-shaped and entire, often bilabiate, occa- 

 sionally 4-lobed, i. e. the anterior and posterior stigma each 2-lobed, and some- 

 times these lobes or half-stigmas combine laterally, forming two right and left 

 stigmas which therefore are superposed to (instead of alternate with) the parietal 

 placentae When the latter are four, it is because the half-placentae are borne 

 more or less within the margin of each carpel. Capsule 2-valved, each valve 

 bearing on its face a single placenta or a pair. Hypogynous gland not rarely at 

 the base of the ovary on one side. Flowers solitary in the axils of bracts or 

 scales, sometimes on scapiform peduncles, sometimes collected in a terminal spike : 

 evolution always centripetal. 



* Flowers all alike and fertile. 



-i Anther-cells deeply separated from below, mucronate or aristulate at base. 

 H- Foreign, sparingly introduced from Europe. 



1. OROBANCHE. Flowers spicate, sessile. Calyx cleft before and behind almost or 

 quite to the base into a pair of lateral and usually 2-cleft divisions. Corolla bilabiate ; 

 upper lip erect, 2-lobed or emarginate ; lower spreading, broadly 3-lobed. Stamens 

 included. Lobes of the stigma when distinguishable right and left. 



H- -H- Indigenous and peculiar to North America. 



2. APHYLLON. Flowers pedunculate or pedicellate, sometimes subsessile and thyrsoid- 

 spicate. Calyx 5-cleft ; lobes nearly equal, acute or acuminate. Corolla somewhat bila- 

 biate ; upper lip more or less spreading, mostly 2-lobed, lower spreading. Stamens included. 

 Stigma peltate or somewhat craterifonn. or bilamellar, the lobes anterior and posterior. 

 Style deciduous. Placentae 4, either equidistant or contiguous in pairs. 



3. CONOPHOLIS. Flowers in a dense simple scaly-bracted spike, 2-bracteolate. Calyx 

 spathaceous, deeply cleft in front, posteriorly about 4-toothed. Corolla ventricose-tubular, 

 strongly bilabiate ; upper lip fornicate and emarginate ; lower shorter, spreading, 3-parted. 

 Stamens somewhat exserted; the pairs little unequal (rarely the 5th stamen present). 

 Stigma capitate, obscurely 2-lobed ; the lobes anterior and posterior. Placenta? 4, almost 

 equidistant. Seeds oval, with a thick coat. 



! -t Anther-cells closely parallel and muticous at base. 



4. BOSCHNIAKIA. Flowers sessile in a dense simple scaly-bracted spike, ebracteolate. 

 Calyx short, cupuliform, posteriorly truncate or obliquely shorter, and with 3 distant 

 teeth in front. Corolla ventricose ; upper lip erect or fornicate, entire ; lower 3-parted. 

 Stamens slightly exserted. Stigma dilated and bilamellar (the lobes right and left) or 4- 

 lobed. Seeds with a thin reticulated coat. 



* * Flowers dimorphous; lower cleistogamous ; upper commonly infertile. 



5. EPIPHEGUS. Flowers subsessile and spicately scattered along slender paniculate 

 branches. Calyx short, 5-toothed. Corolla cylindraceous, slightly curved and upwardly 

 enlarged, almost equally 4-lobed at summit ; the rather larger upper lobe or lip fornicate 

 or concave, barely emarginate. Stamens slightly exserted : anther-cells parallel, mucro- 

 nate at base. Broad gland adnate to base of the ovary on the upper side. Style filiform : 

 stigma capitate-2-lobed. Cleistogamous flowers short unopened buds : style hardly any. 

 Capsule 2-valved at apex : a pair of contiguous placenta; on each valve. Seeds with a 

 thin and shining striate-reticulated coat. 



1. OROBANCHE, L. BROOM-RA.PE. ("Ono^ and rc^on;, a vetch- 

 strangler.) Old- World parasites, on roots of various plants, very numerous in 

 species or forms, one species sparingly and probably recently introduced into the 

 Atlantic United States. 



O. JifNOR, L. Parasitic on clover, New Jersey to Virginia, a span to a foot high, pubescent, 

 pale yellowish-brown, or with purplish-tinged flowers in a rather loose spike : corolla half 



inch long. (Nat. from Eu.) 



