366 OKOBANCHACE^. [Orobanche. 



the lobes approximate, almost coalescing, yellowish (in O. minor the lobes are 

 very distinct and remote on the bifid almost forked apex of the style, and are of 

 a purplish colour). Germen purplish. Seeds perhaps slightly larger and less 

 oblong than in O. minor, a difference which may belong rather to the individuals 

 than to the species. 



Notwithstanding the detailed description I have here given, I freely confess my- 

 self unable to derive any character from the plantbefore me of sufficient prominence 

 to mark it as a good species apart from O. minor, excepting the differently formed 

 and coloured stigma, but which taken alone is too insignificant a character to 

 place much reliance upon. The slender habit and purple colour of O. barbata 

 may well be supposed the effect of a more shaded situation and humid soil, such 

 as in fact it is constantly found to affect. 



That the various species of Orobanche may grow equally on plants belonging 

 to different and even widely separated natural orders, it is reasonable to infer from 

 analogy with other and still more completely parasitic vegetables, Cuscuta for 

 example, of which one species (C Epithymum) flourishes on Furze, Heath and 

 Thyme in equal luxuriance, though there is no botanical relation between any of 

 these plants. So we find another Isle-of- Wight Dodder (C. europcea) attaching 

 itself within the compass of a few yards to the wild Hop, Nettle and Thistles 

 (Cniciis arvensis), the two former nearly allied genera, the latter very remote in 

 the circle of affinities. See Sir W. Hooker's judicious remarks on this species in 

 Br. Fl. 6th ed. p. 233. 



4. 0. Picridis, F. W. Schultz. Picris Broom-rape. Stem 

 simple, sepals 1 -nerved entire or in part 2 — 3 nerved gradually 

 attenuated into as many subulate points longer than tlie tube of 

 the corolla, corolla tubular ventricose at the base curved at the 

 apex nearly straight at the back, leaves denticulate wavy, upper 

 nearly undivided its sides straight, lower of 'd roundish rather 

 unequal lobes middle one the largest, stamens inserted below the 

 middle of the tube hairy on the lower leaf within, style glandular- 

 hairy below in front and on its upper half, lobes of the stigma 

 (purple) nearly distinct. E. B. Suppl. iii. t. 2956 (optima). Bertol. 

 Fl. Ital. vi. p. 439. Godron, Fl. de Lorr. ii. p. 181. 



Eosehall Green, Freshwater cliffs, on Picris hieracioides, 1849. 



Stem from a few (6 or 8) to 18 inches or 2 feet in height, pale purplish, whitish 

 or yellowish, tereti-angular, simple, often somewhat flexuose, slender or occasion- 

 ally of considerable thickness, very downy, particularly in its upper part and axis 

 of the spike, with spreading, pellucid, gland-tipped hairs. Flowers, as in O. 



O. elatior. — Amongst my early notes I find the following entry : — " Orobanche 

 elatior ? I found a clo ver-fiel d at the en d of Dark lane, near Carisbrooke, quite overrun 

 with it, Aug. 6th, 1837.'' Unfortunately, and at this distance of time unaccount- 

 ably, I neglected examining the species further, which leaves it doubtful whether 

 the plants after all might not have been merely tall individuals of O. minor ; but 

 tliat species was then quite familiar to me, and is noted as gathered abundantly at 

 Godshill the day previous. 



Since writing the above, and on examining a bundle of plants collected in the 

 island about the date of the above note, I found a single specimen of Orobanche 

 having the characters of O. elatior, namely, the stamens glabrous above, but 

 glandular-haiij in their lower and dilated part ; yet without any label attached 

 recording the date, or place where collected. I have little doubt however of the 

 specimen having been gathered in the above locality, and after being dried laid 

 aside and forgotten. It is certainly not O. minor, and it possesess neither the 

 character nor aspect of O. major. 



