332 BROOM RAPE FAMILY. 



P. lanceol4ta, Michx. Less common in swamps; 1°-^° high, smootb- 

 ish, with lance-oblong leaves doubly cut-tootlied, some of them opposite ; 

 a close spike of pale yellow flowers ; 2-lobed leafy-crested calyx, and 

 ovate pod ; flowers late summar 



29 



3. MELAMPYRUM, COW WHEAT. (Greek: black grain, from 

 the color of the seeds.) (i) 



M. Americanum, Michx. Our only species, common in open wood- 

 lands; G'-12' high, with lanceolate leaves, the upper ones abrupt or trun- 

 cate at base and with a few bristle-tipped teeth, the scattered flowers 

 pale-yellowish or almost white, sometimes purplish-tinged, produced all 

 summer. 



LXXXII. OROBANCHACEiE, BROOM RAPE FAMILY. 



Low, root-parasitic perennials, destitute of green herbage, 

 and with yellowish or brownish scales in place of leaves, the 

 nionopetalous corolla (withering and persistent) more or less 

 2-lipped or irregular, 4 didynamous stamens, and 1-celled 

 ovary and pod, with the 2 or 4 parietal placentse covered with 

 innumerable small seeds. Ours occur in woods, and are mostly 

 parasitic on the roots of trees. 



» Flowers of two sorts scattered on slender branches. 



1. EPIPHEGUS. Stems slender and bushy-branching, with small and scattered scales 



and flowers scattered in loose spikes or racemes, with minute bracts. Upper flowers 

 conspicuous, but seldom ripening fruit, with tubular 4-toothed corolla, and long fila- 

 ments and style ; lower flowers small and short, seldom opening, but fertilized in 



* * Flowers all perfect and alike. 



2. CONOPHOLIS. Stems thick, covered with firm overlapping scales, each of the upper 



ones with a flower in its axil, forming a spike. Calyx 4-6-toothed, and split down on 

 the lower side. Corolla short, strongly 2-lipped ; upper lip arched and notched ; 

 lower one spreading and 8-cleft. Stamens protruding. 



3. APHYLLON. Stems are chiefly slender 1-flowered scapes from a scaly mostly subter- 



ranuean base. Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla with a long curved tube, and a spreading 

 slightly 2-lipped or irregular 5-lobed border; the lobes all nearly aUke. Stamens 

 included in the tube. 



1. EPIPHEGUS, BEECH DROPS, CANCER ROOT. (Greek: on 

 the Beech, the plant chiefly found parasitic on the roots of that tree.) 

 One species. 



E. Virgini^a, Bart. About 1° high, with purplish flowers |' or more 

 long, in late summer and autumn. Rather common in woods, but over- 

 looked because of the brown color of the plant. 



2. CONOPHOLIS, SQUAWROOT, CANCER ROOT. (Greek for 

 cone scale, the plant having the aspect of a slender fir cone when old.) 



C. Americana, Wallr. Not widely common, in oak woods, forming 

 clusters among fallen leaves, 3'-6' high, as thick as the thumb, yellowish; 

 flowers early summer. 



