208 



COROLLIFLOR^. 



stem, which is of a peculiar dingy red hue, bearing no leaves, but 

 more or less clothed with taper-pointed scales, which are most 

 abundant about the swollen base of the stem. The flowers are large 

 for the size of the plant, and in all British species are of nearly the 

 same hue as the stem, and arranged in a spike not unlike a head of 

 asparagus, with one or more scale-like bracts at the base of each 

 flower. All the species are parasitical on the roots of other plants. 

 The seeds, it is said, will lie buried for some years in the ground 

 without vegetating, until they come in contact with the young roots 

 of some plant adapted to their wants, when they immediately 

 sprout and seize on the points of the roots, which swell and serve as 

 a base to the parasite. There are but two British genera belonging 

 to this Order, Orobanche and Lathrcsa, of which some attach them- 

 selves to particular species ; others infest particular tribes ; and 

 others, again, have a wider range of subjects. Several of those be- 

 longing to the genus Orobanche are very difficult of discrimination ; 

 botanists, indeed, are not agreed as to the number of species, some 

 uniting under a common name specimens found growing on various 

 plants, others considering a slight variation in structure, joined to 

 a difference of situation, enough to constitute a specific distinction. 



i. Orobanche (Broom-rape). Calyx of 2 lateral sepals, which 

 are usually 2-cleft, and often combined in front, with 1-3 bracts at 



the base ; corolla gaping, 4-5 cleft, not falling 

 off. (Name from the Greek, orobos, a vetch, 

 and ancho, to strangle, from the injurious 

 effects produced in the plants to which they 

 attach themselves.) 



2. Lathr^a (Tooth - wort). Calyx bell - 



shaped, 4-cleft ; corolla gaping, 2-lipped, the 



U^% upper lip arched, entire, not falling off. (Name 



in Greek signifying concealed, from the humble 



growth of the plants among dead leaves.) 



1. Orobanche (Broom-rape) 



Bracts one to each flower 



1. 0. major (Great Broom-rape). Corolla tu- 

 bular, the lower lip in 3 lobes, of which the 

 middle one is blunt and longer than the others ; 

 stamens smooth below, downy above ; style 

 downy. A stout, leafless, club-like plant, much 

 swollen at the base, of a reddish-brown hue, 

 viscid, and clothed with tapering scales, which 

 pass into bracts as they ascend the stem. The 

 flowers are of a pinkish-brown hue, and are 

 crowded into a dense spike. The juice is bitter 



Orobanche Major 

 (Great Broom-rape) 



