236 



OROBANCHA< I \l 



Vol. III. 



4. LEPTAMNIUM Raf. Am. .Month. Mag. 2: 267. Feb. 1818. 

 [Epifagus Nutt. Gen. 2: 60. 181SJ 

 An erect slender glabrous, purplish or yellowish, rather stiff branching herb, parasitic on 

 the routs of the beech, with lew small scattered scales, and sessile dimorphous flowers, dis- 

 tantly spicate "ii the branches, the lower cleistogamous, abundantly fertile, the tipper com- 

 plete but mostly sterile. Calyx short, nearly equally 5-toothed. Corolla of the upper flowers 

 cylindric, slightly flattened laterally, the tube much longer than the 4-lobed limb, the upper 

 lobe concave, larger than the 3 lower ones; stamens not exserted ; anther-sacs mucronulate 

 at the base; style filiform, -'-lulled; ovary with an adnate gland on the upper side near the 

 base. Corolla of the lower flowers minute, not unfolding, borne like a hood on the summit 

 ot the ovoid ovary; style very short ; placentae contiguous in pairs; capsule at length 2-valved 

 at the summit. [Greek, referring to the small calyx.] 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America. 



i. Leptamnium virginianum ( L. ) Raf. 



Beech-drops. Fig. 3882. 



Orobanche virginiana L. Sp. PI. 633. 1753. 

 Epifagus americana Nutt. Gen. 2: 60. 1818. 

 Epiphegus virginiana Bart. Conip. Fl. Phil. 2: 50. 



1S1S. 

 Leptamnium virginianum Raf.; A. Gray, Syn. Fl. 



2: Part 1, 314. 1878. As synonym. 



Plant 6'-2 high from a thick scaly base, the 

 roots brittle, fibrous. Stem paniculately branch- 

 ed, the branches straight, ascending; scales 

 very few and small; corolla of the upper 

 flowers 4" 5" long and 1" thick, striped with 

 purple and white, the limb not at all spread- 

 ing; stamens about as long as the corolla; 

 style slightly exserted; lower flowers I i" long, 

 the corolla resembling the calyptra of a moss; 

 capsule 3" high, somewhat oblique and com- 

 pressed, many-seeded. 



In beech woods, Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick to Florida, west to Ontario, Michigan, Mis- 

 souri and Louisiana. Cancer-root or -drops. 

 Virginia brown-rape. Aug. -Oct. 



Family 31. BIGNONIACEAE Pers. Syn. 2: 168. 1807. 

 Trumpet-creeper Family. 

 Trees, shrubs or woody vines, a few exotic species herbs, with opposite ( rarely 

 alternate) compound or simple leaves, and mostly large and showy, clustered 

 terminal or axillary, more or less irregular flowers. Calyx inferior, gamosepalous. 

 Corolla gamopetalous, funnel form, campanulate, or tubular, 5-lobed, somewhat 

 2-lipped, at least in the bud. Anther-bearing stamens 2 or 4, inserted on the tube 

 of the corolla and alternate with its lobes ; anthers 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally 

 dehiscent. Disk annular or cup-like. Ovary sessile or stalked, mostly 2-celled; 

 placentae parietal, or on the partition-wall of the ovary ; ovules very numerous, 

 horizontal, anatropous ; style slender ; stigma terminal, 2-lobed. Capsule 2-valved, 

 loculictdally, septifragally or septicidally dehiscent. Seeds flat, transverse, winged 

 in our genera ; endosperm none ; cotyledons broad and flat, emarginate or 2-Iobed ; 

 radicle short, straight. 



About 60 genera and over 500 species of wide geographic distribution in tropical regions, a few 

 in the north and south temperate zones. 

 Leaves compound ; anther-bearing stamens 4 ; our species vines. 



Calyx-limb undulate; capsule flattened parallel with its partition-wall. 1. Anisostichus. 



Calyx 5-toothed; capsule compressed at right angles to its partition-wall. 2. Bignonia. 



Leaves simple ; anther-bearing stamens mostly 2 ; trees. 3. Catalpa. 



i. ANISOSTICHUS Bureau, Mon. Bignon. 43. 1864. 



Woody vines, with opposite 2-foliolate leaves, the terminal leaflet reduced to a tendril, 

 and large flowers in axillary cymes. Calyx campanulate, the limb merely undulate, truncate 

 or slightly 5-toothed. Tube of the corolla much expanded above the calyx, the limb some- 

 what 2-lipped, 5-lobed, the lobes rounded. Anther-bearing stamens 4. didynamous, included, 



