OROBANCHACEiE. (BROOM-RAPE FAMILY.) 289 
etal placenta : pod many-seeded, — Calyx persistent, 4-5- 
toothed or parted. Corolla tubular, more or less 2-lipped, 
ringent, persistent and withering; the upper lip entire or 2- 
lobed, the lower 3-lobed. Stamens 4, more or less didyna- 
mous, inserted on the tube of the corolla: anthers 2-celled, 
persistent. Ovary free, ovoid, pointed with a long style 
which is curved at the apex : stigma large. Pod 1-celled, 
2-valved, the valves each bearing on their face one placenta 
or a pair. Seeds very numerous, minute, anatropous, with 
a minute embryo at the base of transparent albumen.— 
Low, often thick and fleshy herbs, bearing scales in place 
of leaves, lurid yellowish, or brownish throughout. Flow¬ 
ers solitary or spiked. 
Synopsis. 
* Flowers polygamous, or of two sorts. 
1. Epiphegus. Upper flowers sterile, with a tubular corolla; the 
lower fertile, with the corolla minute and not expanding. 
Bracts inconspicuous. 
* * Flowers all perfect. 
2. Conopholis. Flowers in a dense spike; scaly throughout. Co¬ 
rolla ventricose-2-lipped. Stamens protruded. 
3. Aphyllon. Flowers solitary on naked peduncles or scapes. Co¬ 
rolla tubular. Stamens included. 
EPIPHEGUS, Nutt. Beech-drops. Cancer-root. 
Flowers racemose or spiked, scattered on the branches; the 
upper sterile, with a long tubular corolla and long filaments and 
style; the lower fertile, with a very short corolla which almost 
never opens, but is forced off from the base by the growth of the 
pod ; the stamens and style very short. Calyx 5-toothed. Stig- 
naa capitate, a little 2-lobed. Pod 2-valved at the apex, with 2 
approximate placentae on each. (Name composed of «r», upon , 
and ffrrjyos, the Beech , because it grows on the roots of that tree.) 
1* E. Virginiana, Bart. (E. Americknus, Nutt.) — Herb 
purplish-brown, common under the shade of Beech-trees, parasitic on 
their roots, 6'-12' high, much branched, slender, with scattered and 
inconspicuous scales. Corolla of the upper flowers whitish and pur¬ 
ple, 6"-8" long, curved, 4-toothed ; the upper tooth or lip broadest* 
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