286 OROBANCHACE^. (BROOM-RAPE FAMILY.) 



branching annuals. Leaves petioled, entire, roundish, the upper ones alternate. 

 Flowers racemed. 



1. M. proboscidea, Glox. Stems thick, at length prostrate; leaves 

 round-cordate; corolla (l^'long) whitish, spotted with yellow and purple; cap- 

 sule crested on one side, shorter than the beaks. Waste places. Introduced. 

 July and Aug. 



ORDER 90. OROBANCHACE^E. (BROOM-RAPE FAMILY.) 



Low, leafless, scaly herbs, parasitic on roots, with bilabiate didynamous 

 flowers. Calyx 4 - 5-toothed or parted. Corolla withering-persistent, 

 tubular, the upper lip 2-cleft or entire, the lower 3-lobed. Stamens in- 

 serted on the tube of the corolla : anthers persistent. Ovary free, 1-celled, 

 with 2-4 parietal placentae. Style simple, curved at the apex : stigma 

 thick, 2-lobed. Capsule 2-valved, many-seeded. Seeds very small, ana- 

 tropous, with the minute embryo at the base of transparent albumen. 

 Flowers perfect or polygamous, solitary or spiked. 



Synopsis. 



1. EPIPHEGUS. Flowers polygamous, spiked ; the lower ones fertile, the upper sterile. Ca- 



lyx 2-bracted, 5-toothed. Stem branching. 



2. CONOPHOLIS. Flowers perfect, spiked. Calyx 2-bracted, cleft on the lower side. Stem 



simple, thick and fleshy. 



3. APHYLLON. Flowers solitary, perfect. Calyx bractless, 5-cleft. Corolla nearly equally 



5-lobed. 



1. EPIPHEGUS, Nutt. BEECH-DROPS. 



Flowers polygamous ; the upper ones slender and sterile, the lower abbreviated 

 and fertile. Calyx 5-toothed. Capsule 2-valved at the apex, with 2 placentae 

 on each valve. Stem smooth, slender, much branched, purplish. Flowers 

 small, in loose slender spikes. Corolla purplish. 



1. E. Virginiana, Bart. Under Beech-trees, in deep shades, Florida to 

 Mississippi, and northward. Aug. Stems 6' -12' high. Flowers scattered. 

 Corolla of the sterile flowers 4" - 6" long, 4-toothed, curved. 



2. CONOPHOLIS, Wallr. SQUAW-ROOT. 



Flowers perfect, densely spiked. Calyx 2-bracted, tubular, 4-toothed, cleft on 

 the lower side. Upper lip of the corolla arching, notched ; the lower short, 3- 

 toothed. Stamens exserted. Capsule 2-valved, with 2 placentae on each valve. 

 A thick and fleshy whitish simple herb, covered with imbricated scales. Flow- 

 ers yellowish, spreading. 



1. C." Americana, "Wallr. (Orobanche, L.) Shady woods, Florida to 

 Mississippi, and northward. April. Stems clustered from matted roots, 4' - 6' 

 high, %' thick. 



