GAMOPETALiE 157 



species, one of which, the Greater Broom Rape, is 

 described. 



These plants are natives of North Temperate and 

 Tropical countries, the majority being found in the 

 Old World, in South Europe and East Asia. 



They are regarded as having affinity with the 

 Scrophulariaceae and Cyrtandraceae or with Ges- 

 neriaceae. 



All the Broom Rapes are parasitic plants, being 

 leafless, and practically devoid of chlorophyll. On 

 the roots are suckers by which they are attached to 

 those of other plants such as leguminous plants, ^.^. 

 Clover, Composites, Bedstraws, Brambles, Thyme, 

 Ivy, etc. According to Vaucher the seeds germinate 

 in contact with the root of the host plant. 



In colour the Broom Rapes are brown, purple, cream 

 colour, changing to yellow or blue. The rootstock 

 is tuberous, with or without scales. The stems are 

 simple as a rule, erect, the scales serving as leaves. 



The inflorescence is terminal, the flowers being 

 arranged in an erect, loose, or dense raceme or spike, 

 in the axil of a bract, with the other bracts below the 

 calyx. There is a solitary terminal flower. The 

 flowers are hermaphrodite and zygomorphic. The 

 calyx is gamosepalous, hypogynous, inferior, persistent, 

 with two or four (or two to five) sepals, free or united 

 below. The corolla is tubular or bell-shaped, curved, 

 irregular, the limb two-lipped, the upper lip arched, 

 the lower three-fid, and there are hairy folds in the 

 throat. It is overlapping in bud with five lobes. 



