158 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



The stamens are four, in two pairs, didynamous, 

 epipetalous. The anthers are two-celled, the cells 

 parallel, spurred, pointed below, and they open 

 lengthwise by lateral slits or basal pores. The disc, 

 when present, is one-sided. The pistil is inferior, 

 syncarpous, consisting of two carpels (rarely three), 

 and is unilocular. The ovules are numerous, or few, 

 anatropous. The style is single, curved above. The 

 stigma is pin-headed, with two lobes. The capsule 

 is loculicidal, one-celled, two-valved. The seeds are 

 small, few or numerous. The embryo is ovoid, minute. 

 The endosperm is oily. 



Toothwort, also a parasite and insectivorous, is 

 included in this group. From Scrophularia the Broom 

 Rapes are distinguished in that the ovary is not 

 divided into cells, the placentae not being joined in 

 the centre, but parietal. 



The group includes plants with astringent bitter 

 principles. 



Greater Broom Rape {Orobanche major). 



Whilst most flowering plants are green and possess 

 chlorophyll, by which they gain their carbohydrates, 

 there are some plants that do not carry out the 

 operations of carbon-assimilation and photosynthesis. 

 These, like fungi, are not green plants. Of these 

 *' borrowing " plants there are two types, those that 

 live on other plants, partially or entirely, obtaining 

 their carbohydrates from their hosts, called parasites. 



