Cuacuta.] cuscutace^. 317 



1. C. europisa, L. Greater Dodder. Stem branched, heads 

 sessile many-flowered bracteated, tube of the corolla very short 

 about equal to the erect bluntish calyx-teeth, scales at the base of 

 the stamens very small erect or appressed not closing the tube, 

 stigmas simple. Sm. E. Fl. ii. p. 34. Br. Fl. p. 271. Lindl. 

 Syn. p. 168. E. B. vi. t. 378. Babing. Linn. Trans, xviii. p. 

 213. fig. 1. 



Pavasitic on the stems of various herbaceous plants ; extremely rare in this 

 island. F/. July— September. Q. 



E. Med. — Ou wild Hop, Nettles aud Thistles {Cnicus arvensis) in a hedge 

 between Kerne and Alverstone mill, Dr. BM-Salter, Sept. 1840 !!!— very abundant 

 there in 1841. Near Lake, Isle of Wight, Mr. J. Woods, jun., in Bot. Guide. 

 W. Med.— Ob vetches in a field at Bouldiier, Mr. JR. Gibbs, 1848 U! 



A larger and more robust plant than the next species, the stems usually of a less 

 lively red (though, as in that, very variable in colour and sometimes pale) ; ofien 

 as thick as packthread, angular, succulent, much branched, matted and twining 

 iuexlricably around the adjacent plants, from which it derives nourishment and 

 support, to the height of 2 or 3 feet, adhering to them at each circumvolution by 

 small fleshy tentacula or suckers protruded from orifices in the stem, which is 

 itself lirmly applied by the membranous aud tubercular expansion of its angles at 

 the points of contact. Flowers white, honey-scented, about the size of the next, 

 quite sessile, in small, globular, lateral clusters, that are at first scarcely larger 

 than peas, but in fruit are the size of musket-bullets, each cluster having a small 

 ovale bract beneath it, aud whence the branches of the stem originate. Calyx 

 funnel-shaped, scarcely shorter than the tube of the corolla, cleft about Jrd down- 

 wards into 4 or 5 broadly ovate, erect, bluntish segments, more or less tinged 

 with rose-red. Corolla tubular or subLampanulate, of delicate, pellucid, cellular 

 tissue, 4- or 5-cle(t in the same head or cluster (mostly the latter), the segments 

 ovato-triangular, bluntish and spreading, about as long as the short, inflated and 

 finally globose tube. Stamens 4 or 5, inserted between the segments of the 

 corolla at their base, on short, connivent, flattened filaments, which are much 

 dilated downwards, each with a small, nan-ow, jagged or forked crystalline scale 

 at its base, but which is far less conspicuous than in the next species, not, as in 

 that, closing the throat of the corolla, but shorter and somewhat erect or even 

 appressed,* and hence very liable to be overlooked even in the fresh plant; an- 

 thers brownish, roundish cordate, 2-lobed, bursting laterally. Germen globose. 

 Styles 2, greenish, erect, much shorter and thicker than in the following species, 

 variable in length, but seldom equalling, and mostly much shorter than, the sta- 

 mens ; stigmas blunt, fleshy and yellowish. Capsules the size of hemp-seed, mem- 

 branous, subglobose or obscurely quadrangular, invested with the tunic-like per- 

 ■sislent and enlarged corolla, bursting all round near the base. Seeds 4, brownish 

 or reddish, roundish or somewhat ovate, finely scabroso-punctale, with a sort of 

 slight chafiy scaliness, attached two on each side of a transverse dissepiment, fixed 

 on the base of the capsule, but unconnected with it above, and emarginate at the 

 summit, dividing the cavity into a pair of imperfect cells. Embryo monocotyle- 

 donous, cylindrical, in a loose spiral about the albumen. 



particularly in Grenada, where I observed one species to attach itself indiscrimi- 

 nately to almost every kind of tree and shrub, investing them with a dense mass 

 of tangled fibres, like hanks of yellow yarn, and giving them a veiy singular but 

 unsightly appearance. 



* The existence of these scales in C. europaea has been a subject of controversy, 

 some authors admitting and others denying their presence. The truth is, these 

 scales in the present species are not easily seen, from their small size and great 

 transparency, but are always visible on close examination under a high magnifier, 

 and in a favourable light. 



