336 CONVOLVUIACEJE. (CONVOLVULUS FAMILY.) 



7. CtSCUTA, Toura. DODDER. 



Calyx 5- (rarely 4-) cleft, or of 5 sepals. Corolla globular-um-shnped, bcll- 

 shaped, or somewhat tubular, the spreading border 5- (rarely 4-) cleft. Stamens 

 furnished with a scale-like often fringed appendage at their base. Ovary 2- 

 celled, 4-ovuled : styles distinct, or rarely united. Pod mostly 4-seeded. Em- 

 bryo thread-shaped, spirally coiled in the rather fleshy albumen, destitute of 

 cotyledons ! sometimes with a few alternate scales (belonging to the plumule ?) : 

 germination occurring in the soil. Leafless herbs, chiefly annuals, yellowish 

 or reddish in color, with thread-like stems, bearing a few minute scales in place 

 of leaves ; on rising from the ground becoming entirely parasitic on the bark jf 

 herbs and shrubs over which they twine, and to which they adhere by means of 

 papilla; developed on the surface in contact. Flowers small, cymose-clustcred, 

 mostly white. (Name of uncertain, supposed to be of Arabic, derivation.) 



The following account of our species is contributed by DR. ENGELMANX. 



$ 1. Stigmas elongated : pod opening regularly around the base by circunicissile dehis- 

 cence, leaving the partition be/tind. (Natives of the Old World.) 



1. C. EPILINUM, Weihe. (FLAX DODDER.) Stems very slender ; flowers 

 sessile in dense scattered heads ; corolla globular, 5-parted, cylindrical, scarcely 

 exceeding the broadly ovate acute divisions of the calyx, left surrounding the 

 pod in fruit ; stamens shorter than the limb ; scales short, broad, crenulate, 

 shorter than the globose ovary. In Flax-fields, where it is sometimes very 

 injurious : sparingly introduced with flax-seed into the Northern States. June. 

 (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. Stigmas capitate : pods tndehiscent, rarely bursting irregularly. 



# Flowers more or less pedicelled : bracts few and distant : calyx 4 - o-deft. 



+- Corolla cylindrical, in fruit covering the top of the pod. 



2. C. te 11 tii flora, Engelm. Much branched, twining high, pale-colored, 

 flowers at length pcduncled and in rather loose cymes ; tube of the corolla (ven- 

 tricose after flowering) twice the length of the obtuse spreading lobes and of the ovate 

 obtuse calyx-lobes ; scales ovate, cut-fringed ; stamens shorter than the lobos of 

 the corolla; pod depressed, mcmbranaceous, thin, yellowish. (C. Ccphahinthi, 

 Enydm.) Swamps, Illinois and westward; on Ccphalanthus and various tall 

 herbs. Flower the narrowest of all our Northern species. 



3. C. limbrosa., Beyrich. Flowers pedunclcd in umbel-like cymes ; tube 

 of the (mostly 4-eleft) fleshy corolla as long as the ovate acutish and minutely crenafe 

 erect inflexed lobes and the acute keeled calyx-lobes; scales minute and feio-toothedf 

 appressed ; pod depressed, somewhat umbonatc, of a thicker texture, brown, 

 covered or surrounded with the remains of the corolla. (C. Coryli, Enydm.) 

 Prairies and barrens, in rather dry soil, on Hazels, Ceanothus, and other shrubs 

 Dr herbs; from W. Virginia and Illinois southward and westward. 



*- *- Corolla bell-shajH'd, persistent at the base of the ri]M j>od. 



4. C. arvnsiS, Beyrich (iii herb. Berlin). Low ; flowers small, 5- 

 parted, pcduncled in loose umbel-like cymes; tube of the corolla included in or 

 little exceeding the broad-lobed calyx, shorter than its lanceolate acuminate 



