THE DODDEB FAMILY. 231 



The garden Convolvulacese are almost limited to those two well-known and 

 lovely flowers, the "convolvulus major" and the "convolvulus minor." The 

 former, botanically Pharbitis ■purpi'irea, is a native probably of tropical America, 

 and the most beautiful hardy twiner in cultivation. Its magnificent bells present 

 every possible shade of crimson and purple, the latter unequalled in depth and 

 richness, and sometimes vary to pure white. Like many other tropical annuals, 

 they delay their appearance till the close of summer, and almost exhaust the 

 sower's patience, but then make amends in their profusion. Opening by day- 

 break, or even earlier, the flowers last only till the sun is in the mid heavens ; 

 but every morning there comes out a renewed sujiply, and so it continues, in 

 lenient seasons, till beyond October, by which time the plant is hung all over 

 with clusters of capsules, as fecund in its age as in its middle life it was superb. 

 The leaf is of the most elegant and symmetrical heartshape in nature. (Fig. 143.) 

 The " convolvulus minor," botanically C. tricolor, is a native of the South of 

 Europe, and takes its name from the charming threefold mixture of colours in 

 the corolla, which is white at the base, yellow in the middle, and azure at the 

 upper or expanded part. The fecundity of this species is equal to that of the 

 "major." No others of the family are grown out-of-doors, but in green-houses 

 we may sometimes see a plant of the briUiant genus Ipomcea, resembling an 

 immense " convolvulus major." 



LXVL— THE DODDER FAMILY. Cuscuidcea. 



Like the Monotropa (p. 163) and the toothwort (p. 212), the dodders 

 are parasites. They differ, however, from both, in several important 

 particulars. The stems are as fine as thread, and very much branched, 

 and twine round the plants to which they attach themselves in a 

 tangled mass, so as often almost to conceal them. They are annuals, 

 commencing life in the earth, where the seeds vegetate, and whence 

 they climb on to the objects of their attack, attaching themselves by 

 minute tubercles to the surface of the stalks. As soon as they have 

 secured a firm hold, they relinquish their connection with the soil, 

 and steal their sustenance wholly from the victim. The plants selected 

 for attack are heath, furze, thyme, nettles, thistles, flax, clover, &c. : 

 to the latter, when sown as crops, they are exceedingly injurious. In 

 colour these curious parasites are of a pale greenish-yellow, often turn- 

 ing to a lively red, which they retain till after blooming, when they 

 become brown, and shortly afterwards disappear. The flowers are 

 small, regular, pale flesh or yellowish-rose colour, and wax-like, and 

 clustered in compact, nearly globular, lateral heads, the size of a large 

 pea. No leaves are produced at any time, nor even scales. 



