354 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



degraded form of the Dicotyledonous type ; and the flowers are in like 

 manner provided with all the real essentials of the Phanerogamous struc- 

 ture, since the acotyledonous embryos, upon which stress has been laid, 

 occur in Orobanchacese, Orchidaceae, and various other Orders. The 

 vascular tissue of the parasite is continuous with that of the host-plant. 

 Stomata and hairs are alike scarce in these plants. Hooker, who has 

 elaborately investigated this Order, regards them as having affinity, 

 in their floral structures, to the HaloragaceEe, where, as in Hippuris, we 

 find in plants not parasitic a reduction of the parts of the flowers as com- 

 plete as that in Cynomorium. They are closely related to Gunner a ; but 

 differ in their parasitic habit, absence of leaves, &c. The ovule of these 

 plants is generally reduced to a unicellular nucleus, and that nucleus desti- 

 tute of coats. They occur on the roots of various Dicotyledonous trees, 

 chiefly on the mountains of tropical countries, especially the Andes and 

 the Himalayas ; a few occur at the Cape and other parts of Africa, and 

 some in Australia. Cynomorium is found at Malta, North Africa, the 

 Levant, and the Canary Islands. 



Qualities and Uses. Many of the plants seem to have styptic qualities ; 

 Cynomorium coccineum w r as formerly highly valued by surgeons for this 

 purpose, under the name of Fungus melitensis. Its radicle is directed up- 

 wards in germination (Weddell). Some have a very disagreeable odour, 

 others are eaten like Mushrooms. 



are root-parasites of fungoid texture, with flowers perfect 

 or monoecious, solitary and sessile or clustered at the end of a scaly 

 stem ; perianth tubular at the base, 3-6-parted above, andrcecium colum- 

 nar, connected by four septa with the base of the perianth ; anthers in heads, 

 each surmounted by a subulate connective and opening by slits ; ovary 

 inferior, surmounted by a style which has four lobes at the base super- 

 posed to the perianth segments ; ovules very numerous, growing over 

 8 branching parietal placentas, generally with only one coat; fruit a 

 1-celled, many-seeded berry; seeds imbedded in pulp, perispermic or 

 aperispermic ; embryo amorphous. Cytinus hypocistis (South Europe) is 

 parasitic upon the roots of Cistus, and has unisexual flowers ; Hydnora, 

 a Cape plant, growing upon fleshy EuphorUce and other succulent plants, 

 has hermaphrodite flowers. Except in habit, they have very little con- 

 nexion with the Balanophoracese ; and from Rafflesiacese they differ in 

 the 3-merous structure of the perianth and the longitudinal dehiscence of 

 the anthers. In Hydnora the ovule is immersed in the structure of the 

 placenta, as the buds of some species of Ornithogalum in the leaf. These 

 plants are supposed by some writers to have a connexion with the 

 Monocotyledons through Bromeliacese. Cytinus has astringent qualities ; 

 Hydnora africana, which has a putrid smell, is roasted and eaten by the 

 African natives, and is also used for tanning purposes. Genera : Cytinus, 

 Hydnora, 



RAFFLESIACE^E are parasites of fungoid structure, without stems 

 or leaves ; the flowers solitary, sessile upon the branches of trees, sur- 

 rounded by scales, perfect or direcious ; perianth o-10-parted, with a 

 circle of scales or a ring in the throat j anthers 2-celled, and opening by 



