LANALES.] 



CUSCUTACE.E. 



633 



Order CCXLII. CUSCUTACEiE.— Dodders. 



Cuscutese, J. S. Presl. FL Cech. 1. 247 ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 192, (1830) ; Endl. Gen.p. 655.— Cuscutinac, Link 

 Handb. 1. 594. (1829). — Cuscutacese, Ed, Pr. clxxvi. — Convolvulacese, § Cuscuteae, Choisy in DC. 

 Prodi: 8. 452. 



Diagnosis. — Solanal Exogem, ivith 5 free stamens, hcmd placentcs, and a filifoiin spiral 



embryo. 



Leafless climbing colourless parasites, \vitli the flowers in dense clusters. Calyx 

 inferior, persistent, 4-5-parted, with an imbricate aestivation. Corolla persistent, cut 



round at the base ; the limb regular, 4-5-cleft, 

 imbricated in aestivation. Scales alternating 

 with the segments of the corolla, and adhering 

 to them. Stamens equal to the segments of the 

 corolla, and alternate with them ; anthers 2- 

 celled, opening longitudinally. Ovary 2-celled; 

 ovules twin, collateral, erect; styles 2 or 0, 

 sometimes connate ; stigmas 2. Fruit capsular 

 or baccate, 2-celled ; cells l-2.seeded. Seeds 

 with a fleshy albumen, and a spiral, filiform, 

 acotyledonous embryo ; radicle inferior. 



These parasites are said by Mr. Griffith to 



Fig. CCCCXXIV. 3 4 5 



differ little from Loranths in their manner of attacking the branches on which they 

 grow ; " the suckers stop at the first completely formed wood, never penetrate further, 

 and both the cortical and ligneous systems pass into the stock." There is this difference, 

 however, that Dodders root in the earth in the first instance, and attack the branches of 

 plants at a subsequent period of their existence, at which time they lose their attach- 

 ment to the soil. Dodders 

 differ from Bindweeds in 

 having a thread-shaped em- 

 bryo composed almost ex- 

 clusively of radicle, and 

 twisted spirally in a mass of 

 fleshy albumen. They also 

 have generally, perhaps al- 

 ways, scale-Uke bodies at the 

 base of the stamens, and ap- 

 parently alternating with the 

 lobes of the corolla ; it is, 

 however, not improbable that 

 these scales are really two- 

 lobed bodies, opposite the 

 petals, and adhering to each 

 other at the edges ; if so, 

 they may be regarded as an 

 inner row of stamens. 



Fig. CCCCXXV. 

 M. Choisy objects altogether to the separation of Doddei-s from 



Fig. CCCCXXIV.— Cuscuta verrucosa. 1. ovary and calyx ; 2. section of do. ; 3. its fruit (Hooker); 

 4. section of a seed of a Cuscuta ; 5. its embryo pulled out. o n t -r v 



Fig. CCCCXXV.— Corolla, scales and stamens of, 1. Cuscuta europa-a ; 2. C. Tntolii. 



