336 CONVOLVUIACEJE. (CONVOLVULUS FAMILY.) 



7. CUSCUTA, Tourn. Dodder. 



Calyx 5- (rarely 4-) cleft, or of 5 sepals. Corolla globular-urn-shaped, bell- 

 shaped, or somewhat tubular, the spreading border 5- (rarely 4-) cleft. Stamens 

 furnished with a scale-like often fringed appendage at their base. Ovary 2- 

 celled, 4-ovulcd : styles distinct, or rarely united. Pod mostly 4-seeded. Em- 

 bryo thread-shaped, spirally coiled in the rather fleshy albumen, destitute of 

 cotyledons ! sometimes with a few alternate scales (belonging to the plumule 1) : 

 germination occurring in the soil. — Leafless herbs, chiefly annuals, yellowish 

 or reddish in color, with thread-like stems, bearing a few minute scales in place 

 of leaves ; on rising from the ground becoming entirely parasitic on the bark of 

 herbs and shrubs over which they twine, and to which they adhere by means of 

 papilla} developed on the surface in contact. Flowers small, cymose-clustered, 

 mostly white. (Name of uncertain, supposed to be of Arabic, derivation.) 



The following account of our species is contributed by Dr. Engelmakn. 



$ 1. Stigmas elongated: pod opening regularly around the base by circinncissile dehis- 

 cence, leaving the partition behind. (Natives of the Old World.) 



1. C. Epilinum, Weilie. (Flax Dodder.) Stems very slender ; flowers 

 sessile in dense scattered heads ; corolla globular, 5-parted, cylindrical, scarcely 

 exceeding the broadly ovate acute divisions of the calyx, left surrounding the 

 pod in fruit; stamens shorter than the limb; scales short, broad, crcnulate, 

 shorter than the globose ovary. — In Flax-fields, where it is sometimes very 

 injurious : sparingly introduced with flax-seed into the Northern States. June. 

 (Adv. fromEu.) 



§ 2. Stigmas capitate : pods indehiscent, rarely bursting irregularly. 

 * Flowers more or less pedicellcd : bracts few and distant : calyx 4 - b-cleft. 



+- Corolla cylindrical, in fruit covering the top of the pod. 



2. C. teiieiflos-a, Engelm. Much branched, twining high, pale-colored, 

 flowers at length pcduncled and in rather loose cymes ; tube of the corolla (ven- 

 tricose after flowering) twice the length of the obtuse spreading lobes and of the ovate 

 obtuse calyx-lobes ; scales ovate, cut-fringed ; stamens shorter than the lobos of 

 the corolla; pod depressed, membranaceous, thin, yellowish. (C. Ccphalanthi, 

 Engelm.) — Swamps, Illinois and westward; on Ccphalanthus and various tall 

 herbs. — Flower the narrowest of all our Northern species. 



3. C. umbJ-osa, Beyrich. Flowers peduncled in umbel-like cymes ; tube 

 of the (mostly 4-clcft) fleshy corolla as long as the ovate acutish and minutely crenate 

 erect inflexed lobes and the acute keeled calyx-lobes ; scales minute and few-toothed, 

 appressed ; pod depressed, somewhat umbonate, of a thicker texture, brown, 

 covered or surrounded with the remains of the corolla. (C. Coryli, Engelm.) — 

 Prairies and barrens, in rather dry soil, on Hazels, Ceanothus, and other shrubs 

 or herbs ; from W. Virginia and Illinois southward and westward. 



-)- -i- Corolla bell-shaped, persistent at the base of the ripe pod. 



4. C. arveaisis, Beyrich (in herb. Berlin). Low ; flowers small, 5- 

 partcd, peduncled in loose umbel-like cymes ; tube of the corolla included in or 

 attle exceeding the broad-lobed calyx, shorter than its lanceolate acuminate 



