340 CUSCUTA. [CLASS V. ORDEa It. 



Leaves iu pairs, ovate-lanceolate, acute, three ribbed, smooth, dark 

 green, paler beneath, the lower leaves ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, on 

 short footstalks, Flowers very numerous, on rather long naked foot- 

 stalks, tliickened upwards. Calyx of four very unequal segments, with 

 a short tube, the two outer ones very large, ovate-lanceolate, three 

 ribbed, nearly as long as the tube of the corolla, enveloping the two 

 smaller lanceolate ones, also three ri1)bed. Corolla salver-shaped, the 

 tube cylindrical, striated, pale, yellowish, the limb of four, sometimes 

 the terminal flower with five lanceolate segments, more or less bearded 

 round the mouth, of a pale dull purplish colour. Stamens inserted 

 about the middle of the tube, and about the same length, on awl- 

 shaped filaments. Anthers oblong, of two longtitudinal cells. Style 

 short. Stiymas flat, spreading. Capsule linear, cylindrical, or 

 slightly compressed, four ribbed, pointed, bursting at the apex, two 

 valved, many seeded. Seeds very small, roundish, flat, brown, minutely 

 dotted. 



Habitat. — Fields, meadows, and elevated pastures, especially in a 

 limestone district; frequent. 



Annual ; flowering from .hily to September. 



GENUS XLV. CUS'CUTA.— Linn. Dodder. 



Nat. Ord. Convglvlla'cej:. Jess, 



Gen. Char. Calyx four or five-cleft. Corolla roundish, bell-shaped, 



the limb of four or five lobes, and sometimes with as many scales 



at the base below the stamens. Capsule two celled, two seeded, 



bursting at the base transversely. Parasitical twininy leafless 



plants, with lony thread-like stems. — Name the same as y,c43-o-i;Sa, 



probably fromjhe Arabic Keshout. (TheisJ. 



1. C. Epilhymum, Linn. (Fig. 409.) lesser Dodder. Stem very 



slender, branched; flowers sessile, in crowded heads; limb of the 



corolla in four or five ovate-lanceolate segments, about as long as the 



tube ; stamens with a fringed converging scale at the base ; stigmas 



filiform. 



Enjrlish Botany, t. 55.— fC. £'H)<)/waj.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 

 2.5.— Hooker, British Flora, vol. i.p. 127.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. 1(>8. 



Root small, fibrous, soon withering away. Stem thread-shaped, 

 much branched, twisted, and entangled, of a dark red colour, sometimes 

 pale yellow, attaching itself to the stem and branches of other plants 

 by small ovate suckers, with a fringed margin. Leaves none. Jn- 

 jioresrence oHrom six to twelve sessile flowers, in a dose roundish 



