563 



CLIII. CUSCUTE^. 



Dichondra. 

 Embryo (mag.). 



Dichondra. 

 Seed cut transversely (mag.). 



free carpels (of which there are 2-4, united in pairs), its basilar styles and the valvate aestivation of its 

 corolla The genus Dichondra comprises a few herbaceous, climbing, not milky species, which live in 

 the hot region* [chiefly] of the southern hemisphere and of America. The genus Falkia is 

 South African, shrub. 



CLIII. CUSCUTE^E. 

 (CoNVOLVULORUM pars, Jussieu. CuscuTE^, Presl CUSCTJTIN.E, Link.) 





CuKula. 



Flower cut vertically 

 (mag.). 



Cutcuta. 



Transverse section 

 of fruit (mag.). 



Cutcvta. 



Androecinm and corolla laid open, the latter 



showing on its tube petaloid laciniate 



scales, alternating with its lobes (mag.). 



Cuscuta minor (mag.). 



Cutcuta. 

 Calyx and pistil (mag.). 



Cutcuta. 



Seed cut vertically, 

 showing the embryo 



coiled round 

 the albumen (mag.). 



The genus Cuscttta, which constitutes this little family, is separated from Convolvulacece only by its 

 filiform stems of a reddish or greenish-yellow colour, the absence of leaves, and its parasitism on other 

 plants by means of suckers, by the [often] transverse dehiscence of its capsular or sometimes fleshy fruit, 

 and by the acotyledonous embryo, which is coiled spirally round the albumen. The flowers are in a 

 head or spike, and are usually bracteate. 



Cufcidees inhabit all hot and temperate regions, as parasites on the stems of many herbaceous or 

 even woody plants, which they exhaust by absorbing their elaborated sap. The Small Dodder (C. minor) 

 lives on Field Clover, Lucerne, Thyme, Broom, Furze, Heath, &c.; the C. densiflora infests Flax fields; the 

 Large Dodder (C. major) is parasitic on Nettles and Hops, and even invades the peduncles of the Vine, 

 enclosing them in its thread-like branches, whence the name of Bearded Grapes, given to the clusters 

 whose nutriment it has appropriated. 



