332 BROOM RAPE FAMILY. 



P. lanceolate, Michx. Less common in swamps ; l-3 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. MELAMFYRUM, COW WHEAT. (Greek: black grain, from 

 the color of the seeds.) (D 



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

 lands ; 6'-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. 



LXXXTT. OROBANCHACKffi, BBOOM EAPE FAMILY. 



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

 and with yellowish or brownish scales 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, 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 branchet. 



1. EPIPHEGTJS. 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 4r-5-toothed, and split down on 

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

 lower one spreading and 3-cleft. Stamens protruding. 



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



rannean 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 alike. Stamens 

 Included in the tube. 



1. EFIPHEGI7S, BEECH DROPS, CANCER ROOT. (Greek: on 

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

 One species. 



E. Virginiana, 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. 



