258 SCROPHULARIACE^S. 



2. EPIPHAGUS. Nutt. Beech Drops. 

 (From the Greek T<, upon, and <f>nys or 0ayoj, a beech tree.) 



Flowers polygamous; the upper complete but sterile; the 

 lower imperfect, fertile. STERILE FL. Calyx 5-toothed. Co- 

 rolla tubular, compressed, curved ; upper lip emarginate ; the 

 lower 3 -toothed. Stamens as long as the corolla. Style ex- 

 serted. Ovary abortive. FERTILE FL. Calyx 5-toothed. Co- 

 rolla small, rarely expanding, 4-toothed, deciduous. Stamens 

 4, 3 usually sterile. Style short. Capsule roundish-ovoid, 

 gibbous, opening on the upper side. 



E. Americanus Nutt, Orobanche Virginiana Linn. 



Shady beech woods. Can. to Car. Aug., Sept. %. Plant 612 inches 

 high, yellowish-brown, smooth. Stem angular, branching from near the base ; 

 the branches with small lance-ovate scales below. Flowers alternate, distant, 

 nearly sessile, small; fertile ones deciduous; sterile larger, white striped with 

 purple. Parasitic. Reputed to be medicinal. Beech-drops. Cancer-root. 



3. O BO L ARIA. Linn. Obolaria. 



(From the Greek o@o\ns, a small Athenian coin, which the leaves are said to 

 resemble.) 



Calyx 2-parted, in the form of bracts. Corolla campanulate, 

 4-cleft ; the lobes entire, sometimes crenulate. Stamens 4, 

 subdidynamous, proceeding from the clefts of the corolla. 

 Stigma emarginate. Capsule ovoid, 1 -celled, 2-valved, many- 

 seeded. 



O. Virginica Linn. 



Woods. Penn. and Ohio to Ala. April, May. If. IStem 46 inches high, 

 cespitose, nearly simple, smooth. Leaves opposite, rather fleshy, cuneate-obo- 

 vate, sessile, glaucous. Flowers in pairs or threes towards the top of the stem, 

 white or pale red. Pennywort. 



ORDER XCII. SCROPHULARIACE^E. FIGWORTS. 



Calyx of 4 or 5 more or less united sepals, persistent. 

 Corolla with the limb 2-lipped or more or less irregular, with 

 an imbricated aestivation. Stamens didynamous, rarely equal ; 

 the uppermost or fifth stamen altogether deficient, or sterile, or 

 very rarely fertile, and shorter than the rest; sometimes the 

 two lower ones are sterile or deficient. Ovary 2 -celled ; style 

 mostly simple. Fruit capsular, 2-valved. Seeds numerous. 

 Herbs or sometimes shrubs, usually with opposite or whorled, 

 but occasionally alternate leaves. 



