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XI. On the Structure of Cuscuta europaea. By Charles C. Babington, Esq., 



M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., ^c. 



Read January 16th, 1838. 



In Sir James Smith's English Flora (ii. 25.) it is observed that the flowers of 

 Cuscuta europcea are " in all the British specimens as well as in Ehrhart's 

 German ones destitute of scales in the throat of the tube (of the corolla), 

 which Dr. Hooker confirms, in contradiction to the opinion of our learned 

 friend Mr. Brown, who possibly examined specimens of C. epitkymum, some 

 of which often approach the europcea in size." Mr. Brown's words (Prodr. 491.) 

 are, " squamae in C. europcea et monogyna cevih extant." 



These conflicting statements led me to examine fresh specimens of the plant 

 referred to, (gathered at Sompting in Sussex, in company with Mr. Borrer, 

 who was fully satisfied of its being the true C. europcea^ and I have great 

 pleasure in confirming the observation of Mr. Brown. The fact of these 

 scales having been overlooked by Smith and Hooker is easily accounted for 

 by their lying quite close to the corolla, their perfect transparency, and very 

 minute size. They are, indeed, so difiicult of detection as not to have been at 

 first noticed by Mr. Borrer and myself, even when examining fresh specimens, 

 and it is scarcely possible to discover them in flowers that have been dried. 



Upon referring to the different authors who have described this plant, I find 

 that the presence or absence of scales is frequently passed over without any 

 notice : — That Persoon, Host and Besser {Prim. Fl. Gallicice Austr.) say that 

 they do not exist; Reichenbach describes and figures them as "palmato- 

 subsexfidis ;" Gaudin says, " in iconibus Sturmii, Schkuhrii et Eng. Bot. fila- 

 menta male depicta fuerunt. Squamae enim utique, sed segre conspicuse ad- 

 sunt;" and by Bluff and Fingerhuth, in their 2nd edition, they are said to be 

 "erectis adpressis." This last description agrees with that of Mertens and 

 Koch, whose words are, " aufrecht, angedriickt," erect and adpressed. Roemer 



VOL. XVIII. 2 F 



