CUSCUTA GRONOYII. COMMON AMERICAN DODDER. I 43 



present species is found. In ancient times when these facts 

 were not known it was supposed that the separate species of this 

 parasitic plant had special likings for separate vicliin plants, 

 and hence in the writings of those Latin and Greek authors 

 whose writings have come down to us from periods coeval 

 with the Christian era, and to whom some species were 

 known, we have one called the Epitliynuun, meaning the one 

 which grew on the thyme ; or the Epiliimm, that which grew on 

 flax. Salmon, an herbalist of the time of the English Queen 

 Anne, gives an account of twenty-two Greek names, supposed 

 to belong to as many species, and all these names derived from 

 the plants on which the parasite was found. This very old 

 author details his experiments in raising theni from seed, and 

 asserts that after the young plants have grown a litde length 

 from the seed they speedily die, unless they find something to 

 cling to, and which more recent authors give as a modern dis- 

 covery. It is a new illustration of the old truth that "there is 

 nothing new under the sun." 



At one time it was supposed that these curious plants partook 

 somewhat of the character of the species on which they fed. 

 Salmon, above referred to, says: "The Qualities and Properdes 

 of this Herb much follo\vs those of the Plants upon which it 

 grows;" and even Linnaeus in his ''Materia Mcdica'^ says ot 

 the infusion of that which grows on the thyme, that it has an 

 odor of that herb. A curious old herbalist, Culpeper, who 

 flourished in times when people took medicine according to the 

 astronomical signs in the old almanacs, declares that this plant 

 is useful for those diseases which are under the control of 

 Saturn, but as in this case to use his language "Old Saturn is 

 wise enough to have two strings to his bow," growing it as well 

 from the earth where its root is, as on plants it attaches to, 

 physicians must look to the nature of the disease, as well as to 

 the "hot plants" or the "cold plants" on which it feeds. The 

 moderns do not concede that the nature of the victim plant has 

 any influence on the essential properties of the parasite ; and, 



