383 



panulato limbura sequante squarais convergentibus clause, limbo 5- 

 fido, laciniis patentibus apice corniculato inflexis, stylis 2, stigmate 

 capitato. In Anthemide Cotula, Soncho aspero, Galio vero, Medica- 

 giue sativa, aliisque plantis parasitica. Flores albi, antheris luteis. 

 Caulis laete aurantiacus." — Koch, Synopsis, 2?id edit. 



To this description may be added the fact, that the flowers of Cuscuta 

 Hassiaca exhale a perfume resembling that of the helioti'ope. The 

 odours remain distinctly perceptible in specimens which, for the last 

 five weeks, have been drying in a press. 



It does not appear so pi'obable that Cuscuta Hassiaca has been 

 entirely overlooked, as that it has been confounded with the Cuscuta 

 Europaea, in England. In illustration of this idea, reference may be 

 made to the ' Flora Hertfordiensis,' p. 192, where the subjoined re- 

 marks occur, under the head of Cuscuta Europasa: — 



" We have heard that a field of lucerne was destroyed by this some 

 twenty years since near Thundridge ; but it has not been observed 

 recently." 



In considering the above paragraph, it is as well to be aware that 

 lucerne, in this country, is generally grown from foreign seed ; a fact 

 which would almost warrant the supposition that the Cuscuta so fatal 

 at Thundridge was imported with the seed of the lucerne sown there. 

 It may not, therefore, be incorrect to attribute the destructive agency 

 at Thundridge, alluded to in the ' Flora Hertfordiensis,' to Cuscuta 

 Hassiaca, rather than to Cuscuta Europaea ; and the more so, as Cus- 

 cuta Hassiaca is known to affect lucerne, a partiality not attributed 

 to Cuscuta Europaea, which is said to grow on annual or biennial 

 herbs. 



It will not be out of place to state that, some years since, when 

 Cuscuta Trifolii was forcing itself upon the attention of farmers, as 

 well as of botanists, I observed, during several seasons, a dodder 

 growing upon lucerne, in a small enclosure at Rivenhall, between 

 Kelvedon and Witham. Unfortunately, I did not think of gathering 

 any of this parasite, until the opportunity of doing so was lost. The 

 size and general appearance of the Rivenhall plant were such as to 

 lead to the conviction of its not being Cuscuta Trifolii; while, from 

 its growing upon lucerne, it seems very likely that it was the same 

 species as that lately discovered at Witham. At all events, having 

 allowed the opportunity of examining the dodder at Rivenhall to 

 escape, I resolved, in future, to explore all plots of lucerne, in the 

 hope of meeting with something similar again. But lucerne, in culti- 

 vation, is not of very common occurrence, and it was some time before 

 I discovered the object of my search. As in this neighbourhood, so 



