Cuscuta Epilinum a British Plant. 343 



cjz and riparia, but also Integra, montana, and some others, 

 as varieties of the hybrida of Linnaeus and Dejean. Much 

 stress has been laid upon the colour of the labial palpi in this 

 and the allied species, both by Messrs. Stephens and Curtis; 

 this character, however, (as the former author indeed subse- 

 quently observed, 'Illust' vol. i. p. 20), is of little importance, 

 these organs, both in C. hybrida and sylvicola, being varia- 

 ble in colour from nearly white to black ; which variation 

 Mr. Stephens considers to be attributable to age, whilst M. 

 Brulle regards it as sexual ; the latter stating that these or- 

 gans are obscure in the female and pale in the male. This 

 however can scarcely be correct, since I possess a female of 

 C. maritima, {hybrida, Sowerby), with palpi as pale as in the 

 males, whilst I have a female of the true hybrida, with black 

 labial palpi. — J. O* Westwood. 



Cuscuta Epilinum. — In the summer of 1836, I gathered a 

 species of Cuscuta upon flax, in a field near Ellesmere, Shrop- 

 shire, which I then took to be C. Europcea ; but finding, on 

 subsequent examination, the scales within the corolla, said to 

 be wanting in that species, I forwarded specimens to Sir W. 

 J. Hooker, and directed his attention to its examination. He 

 at once decided it to be Cuscuta Epilinum of Weihe, a conti- 

 nental species, and very destructive in Germany to the crops 

 of flax, stunting the growth of the stems by enveloping them 

 so tightly. I have sent a dried specimen, (with description), 

 to Mr. Sowerby, to be figured in his ' Supplement to English 

 Botany' ; but as this may not appear in time for the present 

 season, it may be as well to insert this notice in the forth- 

 coming number of the \ Magazine of Natural History,' that 

 botanists may have an opportunity of searching for the plant. 

 Sir W. Hooker suggested to me that all the Cuscuta found 

 on flax, will prove to be this species ; and this my friend W. 

 A. Leighton, of Shrewsbury, and myself, have found to be the 

 case, on examination of specimens in our respective herbaria. 



C. Epilinum may be distinguished from C. Europcsa, by its 

 simple, not branched, habit, and by its very pale, (nearly 

 white) capitula or heads, which are without any of the rosy 

 tinge of the latter. These heads consist of fewer flowers than 

 in the latter species, (about five), and these are large, fleshy, 

 and succulent. Both the heads and their component flowers 

 are more decidedly sitting than in C Europcsa ; the heads 

 are subtended by a membranous, obovate, reflexed bractea, 

 of a reddish brown colour ; but there is no bractea under each 

 individual flower. This is at variance with Sir J. E. Smith's 

 generic character, and with Reichenbach's specific character, 

 — u glomerulus ebracteatis," — heads without bracteas, — which 



Vol. II.— No. 18. n. s. g g 



