754 



like " fine closely- tangled wet cat-gut carelessly thrown down on the 

 clover ; " it is of a pale reddish-brown or yellow colour, of a more ro- 

 bust habit than Cuscuta Epithymum, but not so strong as C. europaja 

 and with fewer heads of flowers ; these are bracteated, sessile, white, 

 with a spreading limb to the corolla, and give out a faint, fragrant 

 odour; the stems upon which they are placed are frequently long, 

 round and filiform, occasionally giving off lateral branches, the axils 

 of which contain a few flower-buds, these ultimately increase and 

 form heads. 



The destruction caused by this plant is very great. All the plants 

 around which it clings are dead or dying ; pieces of clover, quite 

 black and withered, as if scorched, may be obtained with the Cuscu- 

 ta upon them in a flourishing condition. It does not confine itself to 

 clover, but seems to attack indiscriminately all the plants in its neigh- 

 bourhood. I have found it upon Prunella vulgaris, Triticum repens. 

 Polygonum aviculare, Plantago lanceolata, Sherardia arvensis, and 

 even on Orobanche minor, thus affording an example of one parasite 

 living upon another. It seems especially to luxuriate upon Prunella 

 vulgaris ; at least I have generally found several heads of flowers on 

 that, when there have been scarcely any on the other plants, or on the 

 clover in its neighbourhood, completely strangled by the Dodder. 



The characters, drawn from the examination of numerous speci- 

 mens, appear to me to be the following : — 



Clusters of flowers bracteated, sessile, approaching a globular form, 

 the flowers in each cluster varying in number from two to twenty, the 

 average number being about fifteen : tube of the corolla at first cy- 

 lindrical, afterward,s becoming somewhat ventricose, scales palmate- 

 ly cut, converging : calyx nearly or quite as long as the tube of the 

 corolla, sepals white,* ovate-lanceolate, acute. 



Being a true parasite, the Cuscuta derives its nourishment from the 

 plants to which it clings, as soon as it has inserted its suckers ; and 

 the mode in which this is accomplished is very interesting. The 

 stem has a degree of viscidity readily detected by plunging the hand 

 among a quantity of it ; on withdrawing the hand, it will be found 

 that the stems have a tendency to adhere to it, and probably it is thi& 

 viscidity which at first enables the Cuscuta to attach itself to the clo- 

 ver &c., until it has twined itself round the stem of other plants ; this 

 it does by coiling itself round once or twice from left to right, or more 

 frequently it makes several turns and then passes off to another stem, 



* Occasionally tinged with purple. — Ed, 



