340 CUSCUTA. [CLASS V. ORDER II. 



Ltavet in pairs, ovate-lanceolate, acute, three ribbed, smooth, dark 

 green, paler beneath, the lower leaves ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, on 

 short footstalks. Flowers very numerous, on rather long naked foot- 

 stalks, thickened upwards. Calyx of four very unequal segments, with 

 a short lube, the two outer ones very large, ovate-lanceolate, three 

 ribbed, nearly as long as the tube of the corolla, enveloping the two 

 smaller lanceolate ones, also three ribbed. Corolla salver-shaped, the 

 tube cylindrical, striated, pale, yellowish, the limb of four, sometimes 

 the terminal flower with five lanceolate segments, more or less bearded 

 round the mouth, of a pale dull purplish colour. Stamens inserted 

 about the middle of the tube, and about the same length, on awl- 

 shaped filaments. Anthers oblong, of two longtitudinal cells. Style 

 short. Stigmas fiat, spreading. Capsule linear, cylindrical, or 

 slightly compressed, four ribbed, pointed, bursting at the apex, two 

 valved, many seeded. Seeds very small, roundish, flat, brown, minutely 

 dotted. 



Habitat. Fields, meadows, and elevated pastures, especially in a 

 limestone district; frequent. 



Annual ; flowering from July to September. 



GENUS XLV. CUS'CUTA. LINN. Dodder. 

 Nat Ord. CONVOLVDLA'CEJE. Jess. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx four or five-cleft. Corolla roundish, bell-shaped, 



the limb of four or five lobes, and sometimes with as many scales 



at the base below the stamens. Capsule two celled, two seeded, 



bursting at the base transversely. Parasitical twining leafless 



plants, with long thread-like stems. Name the same as na-rc-vSa, 



probably from the Arabic Keshout. (Theis). 



\. C. Epithifmum, Linn. (Fig. 409.) lesser Dodder. Stem rery 



slender, branched ; flowers sessile, in crowded heads ; limb of the 



corolla in four or five ovate-lanceolate segments, about as long as the 



tube ; stamens with a fringed converging scale at the base ; stigmas 



filiform. 



English Botany, t. 55. (C. Enropaa). English Flora, vol. ii. p. 

 25. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i.p. 127. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 168. 



Root small, fibrous, soon withering away. Stem thread-shaped, 

 much branched, twisted, and entangled, of a dark red colour, sometimes 

 pale yellow, attaching itself to the stem and branches of other plants 

 by small ovate suckers, with a fringed margin. Leaves none. In- 

 florescence of from six to twelve sessile flowers, in a close roundish 



