XCIII. OROBANCHACE.E (STAFF.). 463 



few or many. Flowers in terminal racemes or spikes, supported by 

 bracts and often also by bracteoles. 



Species over 130, almost exclusively in the northern hemisphere, particularly in 

 the warm- temperate regions. 



Calyx tubular-campanulate, obtusely 4-5-lobed . . 1. ClSTANCHE. 



Calyx campanulate, acutely 3-5-dentate or 3— 5-fi.d or 



split to the base in front and on the back . . 2. Okobanche. 



1. ClSTANCHE, Hoffm. et Link ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 983. 



Calyx persistent, tubular-campanulate, i- or 5-lobecl ; lobes obtuse, 

 rounded, subequal or the two posticous narrower. Corolla tubular 

 below, more or less funnel-shaped above, more or less curved or at 

 length abruptly bent; limb spreading, oblkjue, 5-lobed ; lobes broad, 

 equal or nearly so. Stamens i, didynamous, subexserted. inserted deep 

 down in the corolla-tube ; anthers usually densely bearded and coherent 

 by the hairs ; cells parallel, often acute or mucronate at the base. Ovary 

 1 -celled, with -1 distinct placentas, many-ovuled ; style curved at the 

 •apex ; stigma large, orbicular. Capsule 2-valved, dehiscing in the 

 median plane. Seeds very numerous, minute, foveolate-reticulate. — 

 Parasitic plants, variously coloured, destitute of chlorophyll, glabrous 

 or cobwebby. Stems succulent, often bulbously thickened at the base, 

 simple. Leaves reduced to fleshy scales. Flowers bracteate and 

 2-bracteolate, spicate, rather large, white, yellow or purplish. 



Species about 10 in the dry regions of Portugal, Spain, North Africa, and 

 through the Orient to India. 



1. C. lutea, Hoffmg. & Link, Fl. Port. i. 319, t. 63, Stem swollen 

 at the base (often more than 1 in. in diam.), stout, fleshy, like the whole 

 plant (except the stamens and the inside of the corolla-tube), glabrous, 

 i-l-J- ft. high. Scales fleshy, lurid purplish or tinged with yellow, lower- 

 crowded, triangular, caudate-acuminate or acute, upper ovate-lanceolate 

 or lanceolate, scattered, h to 1 in. long, margins sometimes thin and 

 more or less transparent. Spike cylindric, rounded at the top, or when 

 young comose by the uppermost bracts, from a few inches to 1 ft. long, 

 usually dense, rarely somewhat lax ; bracts ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 

 as long as the calyx or shorter or longer, in substance and colour like 

 the stem-scales ; bracteoles linear, about as long as the calyx. Calyx 

 wide-tubular-campanulate, 6-10 lin. long, rarely longer, 5-lobed to J 

 or almost -| of its length ; lobes broad, elliptic-oblong, rounded, more 

 or less imbricate, margins membranous. Corolla bright yellow ; tube 

 1-2 in. long, at first almost straight, then more or less curved, at length 

 often abruptly bent at the middle, cylindric below the middle, wide 

 funnel-shaped above it, more or less villous below the insertion ; lobes 

 much broader than long, 2|— 3 lin. long, rounded. Filaments hairy 

 towards the base ; anthers woolly, cells acute to mucronulate at the 

 base. — Reichb. PI. Crit. vii. t. 700, fig. 939. Lathrcea Phelipcea, Linn. 



