HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



173 



seedsmen very careful before disseminating the germs 

 of such a troublesome and ruinous plant. Strange to 

 say, all the fields just referred to were sown with 

 clover seeds obtained at the same time and from the 

 same source. 



The lesser dodder [C. epithytnum) grows on thyme, 

 heath, and other small shrubby plants, and is of 

 much finer growth than the latter species, though in 

 other respects the two plants are much alike. The 

 stems are usually of a deeper 

 red than those of the greater 

 dodder, and generally more 

 twisted or entangled ; indeed it 

 is no easy task to follow one of 

 the stems from base to tip, so 

 intricately twisted do they be- 

 come. As well as the plants 

 mentioned above, the lesser 

 dodder has been found some- 

 what plentiful on clover, gorse, 

 &c. 



always or usually less than a foot in height, and 

 covered with numerous white fleshy scales instead 

 of leaves. The root-stock is of a dirty white colour, 

 and composed of numerous short, fleshy, imbricating- 

 scales. Flowering stem naked, or with sometimes 

 one or two oval scales which gradually pass into the 

 bracts. The flowers, which are numerous, and 

 arranged in a somewhat one-sided spike, are of a 

 pale purple, streaked, and marked with light blue 

 and red, but as they soon fade these colours 

 cannot be relied upon as constant ; so that the 

 plant at various stages of growth, and according 

 to the locality in which it is found, presents a 

 diversity of features by no means easily de- 

 scribed. Sometimes the flowers appear of a 

 greenish colour to the casual observer, but on 

 closer examination faint tracts of other colours 

 are readily detected. 



It grows on the roots of various trees, as the 

 hazel, laurel, and elm, and is generally found 

 in the most hidden recesses of dry woods, which 

 may partly account for its pallid, unhealthy- 

 looking appearance. It is not an uncommon 



Fig. 113. — Dodder {Cuscuta 

 epithymitni). 



Fig. 114. — Toothwort 

 [(Lathraa sqrtamatia). 



115.— Mistletoe {Viscnm album). 

 a, flower ; i, fruit. 



The flax dodder (C. epilinum) is almost exclusively 

 confined to the plant from which the popular name is 

 derived, and is generally supposed to have been 

 introduced into this country with the cultivation of 

 flax. 



In the island of Anglesea this plant was, a few 

 years ago, pretty abundant amongst a crop of flax. 

 I have, however, not heard of it since. The 

 differences between this plant and the greater dodder 

 lie chiefly in the flowers, which are fewer in number 

 and somewhat larger. 



The toothwort {Lathraa squamaria), in singula- 

 rity of habit and general construction, very nearly 

 approaches the orobanche. It is, however, dis- 

 tinguished by several well-marked technicalities, 

 especially in the construction of flowers and formation 

 of the root, both of which differ considerably from 

 those of the orobanche. It is a diminutive plant, 



plant, having been found in many English counties,, 

 as well as, though in limited quantity, in Ireland and 

 Scotland. 



The mistletoe {Visatm album) is the largest and 

 most aspiring of our native parasites, and is by many 

 considered as the only true parasitical plant indi- 

 genous to Britain, as at no time does it receive any 

 nourishment from the soil like a few other members 

 of this family ; but although the dodders do not 

 actually, like the mistletoe, plunge their roots into 

 the wood and incorporate themselves with the tissue, 

 still the fact of their living on and deriving nourish- 

 ment from other plants will be sufficient reason for 

 including them in this class. 



This is an evergreen bush from two feet to some- 

 times as much as five feet in diameter, with dichoto- 

 mous shoots, and pairs of light green leaves. It is 

 dioecious, having the sexes separate on different 



