284 CUSCUTACEAE. 



2.5-5 cm. long; corolla 4 cm. broad, pinkish; capsule 1-celled; stigma 

 ovate-oblong, thickish. 



On the sandy beanches along the seashore. May-June. 



3. C. occidentalis Gray. Glabrous or minutely pubescent; 

 stems freely twining over shrubs; leaves slender-petioled, from 

 angular-cordate with a deep and narrow sinus to sagittate or the 

 upper hastate; the basal lobes often 1-2-toothed; peduncles elon- 

 gated, surpassing the leaf, 1-3-flowered; bracts at base of the calyx 

 ovate or obscurely cordate, membranaceous, equaling it or some- 

 what longer, mostly obtuse; corolla campanulate-funnelform, white 

 or pinkish, 3-5 cm. long; stigma linear. 



Common in the chaparral belt in all our foothills and mountains. 



3a. C. occidentalis tenuissimus Gray. Much resembling the 

 typical form; leaves narrowly hastate or sagittate; the middle and 

 basal lobes mostly narrowly lanceolate; bracts ovate-oblong or 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate. 



Frequent in the San Gabriel and Santa Ana Mountains, south 

 to San Diego. 



3. CRESSA L. 



Low canescent perennial herbs with erect or diffuse 

 stems. Flowers solitary in the axils of the upper leaves. 

 Sepals nearly equal. Corolla with an oblong-campanu- 

 late tube about equaling the calyx, the limb 5-parted. 

 Stamens exserted from the throat. Styles 2; ovary 2- 

 celled, 4-ovuled. Capsule often only 1 -seeded. 



1. C. truxillensis H. B. K. Perennial herb, much branched 

 from the base, erect or ascending, 1-2 dm. high, silky-villous, leafy; 

 leaves ovate-lanceolate, nearly sessile, 4-7 mm. long; flowers sessile 

 or nearly so in the upper axils; corolla deeply 5-cleft, campanulate, 

 4-5 mm. long, white, silky-pubescent without. 



Frequent in saline places throughout our range. June-October. 



Family 87. CUSCUTACEAE. Dodder Family. 



White or yellow slender twining parasites, the leaves 

 reduced to minute alternate scales. Calyx 5-lobed, 

 rarely 4-lobed or 4-5-parted, the lobes imbricated in the 

 bud. Corolla usually campanulate, 5-lobed, rarely 4- 

 lobed, the tube bearing as many fimbriate or crenulate 

 scales as there are lobes and alternate with them, or these 

 sometimes obsolete. Stamens as many as corolla-lobes 

 and alternate with them, inserted in the throat or sinuses 

 above the scales; anthers short, 2-celled, longitudinally 



