CHAPTEE XIX. 



CLOVER DODDER. 



Cuscuta Trifolii, Bab. 



CLOVER DODDER is such a familiar, and, as some ob- 

 servers say, increasing pest in our fields, that any detailed 

 description of its superficial appearance and habits is 

 unnecessary. Clover dodder is probably perfectly familiar 

 to every observant person who has walked through clover 

 fields. 



All the dodders, and there are some forty or fifty 

 species belong to one genus of parasitic plants termed 

 Cuscuta, a name said to be derived from Chassuth, the 

 Arabic name for dodder plants. The Kadytas of Theo- 

 phrastus and the Cassytas of Pliny are believed to be 

 dodder. These names, as well as the Arabic name, signify 

 to hold fast, to stitch, and to oppress. The popular name, 

 dodder, is an English form of the Dutch and German names 

 Dodern, Touteren, and Todern. Dodd signifies a bunch, 

 and dot, a tangled thread. Trifolii indicates that the 

 plant now under description invades clovers. The dodders 

 are commonly termed scald-weeds, hell-weeds, or strangle- 

 weeds, and in some districts devil's -guts ; the popular 

 names indicate the strong hatred rustics bear towards 

 these weeds. 



Cuscutas are closely allied to the Convolvuli of our 

 gardens, and some botanists place them in the same 

 natural order with the convolvulus ; others relegate them 

 to a natural order by themselves, named Cuscutece. 



Part of a plant of Cuscuta Trifolii, Bab., growing para- 

 sitically on clover, is shown at Fig. 47, twice the size of 



