258 COMMON WEEDS 



The seeds of Dodder (Plate II., Figs. 51 and 52) are in 

 general quite small, roundish, and angled. Being, with 

 one or two exceptions, much smaller than the seeds of 

 red clover, they are easily separated by seed-cleaning 

 machinery. Although Dodder seeds may be recognised 

 as such by the farmer, the species can only be identified 

 by the expert, and then not invariably perhaps. In 

 1905 no less than n per cent of the clover seed 

 samples examined by the Consulting Botanist (Mr. W. 

 Carruthers, F.R.S.) to the Royal Agricultural Society 

 were found to contain Dodder seeds, two samples con- 

 taining 6 per cent. In 1908 the same authority called 

 attention to " the difficulty of securing the seeds of any 

 variety of red clover this year free from Dodder. Last 

 year's harvest of seed in Britain had been so short and 

 unsatisfactory that the market had had to be supplied 

 by seed imported from the Continent and America, and 

 it was very difficult to obtain seed free from Dodder. 

 In many samples that had been examined there had 

 been as much as 1000 Dodder seeds in a pound of 

 clover seed." This makes it abundantly clear that the 

 seeds of Dodder must be very commonly sown with 

 clover samples in Britain. Dodder is similarly a pest 

 in the Colonies and in the United States of America, 

 France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Chile, and 

 other countries. 



Cuscuta Trifolii Bab., generally termed Clover Dodder, 

 and according to Hooker a variety of C. Eptthynium, is 

 the most common species met with on the farm. It 

 is leafless, but produces numerous clusters of minute 

 white bell-shaped flowers (Fig. 72). Each flower gives 

 rise to a two-celled capsule, each cell containing two 

 minute .seeds, which are roundish, dull in appearance, 

 and grey, brown, olive-brown, or yellowish-brown in 

 colour. This species is most commonly found on 



