278 OEOBANCHE^ 



anthers smooth ; annual. This very rare plant occurs casually on the roots 

 of hemp in Norfolk, Suffolk, and some other counties ; but it is not a native. 

 It is altogether of much paler colour than most of the species, and its stems 

 are usually branched. It flowers in August and September. 



The beauty of some of the Broom-rapes of other countries has induced 

 many persons to attempt their cultivation. The culture of parasitic plants 

 has, in many eases, been found diflicult. Dr. Berthold Seeman remarks, that 

 the species of loranthus of tropical and sub-tropical regions are most beautiful 

 plants, bearing, instead of the inconspicuous flower of our mistletoe, blossoms 

 of the brightest scarlet and yellow colours, and often avei'aging more than 

 eight inches in length. He adds, " What gardener has ever looked over the 

 plates, even of our European Floras, or herborised on any part of the British 

 Isles or the Continent, who has not been struck with some of the Broom- 

 rapes, and regretted his inability to rear these rivals of Orchidese in the 

 establishment under his care ?" It has, however, been found possible to 

 cultivate this tribe of plants, and several of the European species have been 

 reared with success in the Botanic Garden of Grottingen. A writer in the 

 Gardener's Chronicle, in December, 1853, remarks, "Professor Barthing, the 

 learned director of the Gottingen Garden, collected, some years ago, seeds of 

 all the Orobanches Avhich he could procure ; and sowing them in pots upon 

 the roots of those plants to which they are partial, he had the satisfaction of 

 seeing them spring up and produce their elegant flowers. The experiment 

 is easily imitated ; but he who is about to attempt it should make himself 

 jjerfectly acquainted with the mode of growth of each individual species 

 which he has determined to raise. Some of them, for instance, will be found 

 attached to the extremities of the roots ; others close to the main stem of 

 the plants." Unless these points are attended to, the seeds of the Broom- 

 rapes may remain for years in the soil without vegetating. A later writer 

 in the same journal stated that living parasites were then growing well in the 

 Botanic Garden of Glasnevin ; and that Broom-rapes, toothworts, dodders, 

 and other parasitic plants usually deemed diflicult of culture, succeeded well 

 in a small town garden known to the writer, though in these cases the plants 

 had not been reared from seed, but by a kind of root-grafting. 



2. TooTHWORT (Lathrcea). 



Greater Toothwort (L. sqiuimdria).— Flowers drooping in 1-sided 

 racemes, lower lip of the corolla 3-cleft ; bracts broadly egg-shaped or 

 lanceolate ; perennial. This parasite is not to be found, like the broom-rape, 

 growing beneath the broad sunshine, for it springs up in the recesses of the 

 summer woodland. It attaches itself there to the roots of the elm, hazel, or 

 other trees ; and, though a rare plant, occurs in various parts of England, 

 Ireland, and Scotland. It is a juicy, leafless plant, with many fleshy, tooth- 

 like scales, often, but not always, colourless. The leafless parasites have 

 usually the singular property of never developing any bright colours or 

 assuming any green tint. The Toothwort, however, when exposed to a 

 greater degree of light than that under which it is ordinarily found, becomes 

 much affected in hue by the circumstance. Mr. Dovaston, who planted this 

 parasite on the roots of the hazel, tells us that just as he had despaired of 



