I 



CONVOLVULACE^. 91 



has occurred on vetches i]i cultivated fields at Thirsk and near 

 Twycross : it is probahly a distinct sub-species, but not native. 



Oreat Dodder. 



French, Cnscute d, Grandes Flews. German, Quendel Seide. 



This mischievous plant entangles and destroys with its living meshes the branches 

 of hop, nettle, vetches, and other plants, around which it grows. The Dodders are 

 all annuals, and commence life usually in the earth, where the seeds vegetate, and 

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

 tubercles to the surface of the stalks. As soon as they find they have secured a firm 

 hold, they relinquish connection with the soil, and steal their sustenance wholly from 

 their victim. Their stems are as fine as thread, and twine round the plants they 

 attack in a tangled mass, so as often to conceal them. Cowley takes advantage of 

 the nature of the Dodder to describe it as an illustration of female dependence. 

 Describing the plant on which it grows, he says : On him — 



" She must depend alone, 

 And nothing in herself can call her own. 

 Fed with his juice, she on his stalk is born, 

 And thinks his leaves her head full well adorn. 

 Whatever he be, she loves to take his name. 

 And must, with him, be every way the same." 



SPECIES III.-C USCUTA EPITHYM U M. Murr. 



Plate DCCCCXXYIIL 



Beick Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVIII. Tab. MCCCXLIII. Fig. 3. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 150. 



C. Europsea /3, Epithymum, Linn. Sp. Plant, p. 1 80. 



C. Europsea, Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 55. 



C. minor, B. C. Chaistj in D. C. Prod. Vol. IX. p. 453. 



Stems threadlike, branched, usually red. Plowers sub-sessile 

 or shortly-stalked, in compact sessile globular heads. Calyx bell- 

 shaped, red; segments slightly fleshy, semi-transparent, ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, slightly spreading at the tips. Corolla slightly 

 exceeding the calyx ; tube cylindrical at the time of flowering ; 

 limb spreading, as long as the tube; lobes triangular, acute, 

 'spreading ; scales very large, as long as tube of corolla, incurved, 

 nearly concealing the ovary. Stamens exserted. Styles 2, fili- 

 form, longer than the ovary, erect ; stigmas linear. Seeds slightly 

 roughened. 



Parasitical upon ling, furze, thyme, and other small shrubby 

 plants. . Not uncommon in England ; rare in Scotland, where it 

 is said to grow at MoUance, Galloway. 



England, Scotland (?). Annual. Late Summer and Autumn. 



