662 BROOM RAPE FAMILY. 



P. lanceolata, Michx. Less common in swamps ; 1^'-;P high, smooth- 

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

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

 ovate pod ; flowers late summer. 



29. MELAMPYRUM, COWWPIEAT. (Greek: hlark grain, from 

 the color of the seed.s.) (i) 



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

 lands ; 0'-12' liigh, 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. OROBANCHACE^, BKOOM EAPE FAMILY. 



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

 and with yelloAvish or brownish scaies in place of leaves, the 

 monopetalous corolla (withering and persistent) more or less 

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

 ovary and pod, Avith the 2 or 4 parietal placentte covered with 

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

 parasitic on the i-oots of trees. 



» Flowers of two sorts scattered on slender hranches. 



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 lonsr fila- 

 ments and style ; lower flowers small and short, seldom oi)ening, but fertiHzed in 



* * Flmoers 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 4-5-toothed, and si)lit down on 

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

 lower one spreading and 3-cleft. Stamens proti-uding. 



3. APHYLLON. Stems are chiefly slender l-flowered scapes from a scaly inostlj- subter- 



rannean base. Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla w'ith a long curved tube, and a spreading 

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

 included in the tube. 



1. EPIPHEGUS, BEECH DROPS, CA^XER ROOT, ((heck: »n 

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

 One species. 



E. Virgini^na, Bart. About 1° high, with piu-plish flowers I' or more 

 long, in late summer and autumn. Bather common iu 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'-G' high, as thick as the thumb, yellowish ; 

 flowers early summer. 



