280 OEOBANCHACE^. (bROOM-RAPB FAMILY.) 



Synopsis. 



* Flowers of two sorts 



1. EPIPHEGUS. TTpper flowers sterile, with a tubular corolla ; the lower fertile, witli the 



corolla miuute and uot expanding. Bracts inconspicuous, 



* * Flowers all alike and perfect. 



2. CONOPHOLIS. Flowers spiked. Calyx with 2 bractlets, split on the lower side. Stamens 



protruded. Corolla 2-lipped. 



3. PHBLIP.a:A. Flowers spiked or panicled. Calyx with 2 bractlets, regularly 5-cleft. Co-. 



rolla 2-lipped. Stamens included. 



4. APHYLLON. Flowers solitary, witKoat bractlets. Calyx regularly 5-cleft. Corolla al- 



most regular. Stamens included. 



1» EPIPHEOUS, Nutt. Beech-drops. Cancbk-root. 



Flowers racemose or spiked, scattered on the branches ; the upper sterile, with 

 a long tubular corolla and long filaments and stylo ; the lower fertile, with a, 

 very short corolla which seldom opens, but is forced off from the base by the 

 growth of the pod ; the stamens and style very short. Calyx 5-toothed. Stigma 

 capitate, a little 2-lobed. Pod 2-valved at the apex, with 2 approximate placentae 

 on each valve. — Herbs slender, purplish or yellowish-brown, much branched, 

 with small and scattered scales, 6' -12' high. (Name composed of mi, upon, 

 and (jirfyos, tJie Beech, because it grows on the roots of that tree.) 



1. E. Virginiana, Bart. (E. Americanus, iVuft.) — Common under the 

 shade of Beech-trees, parasitic on their roots. Aug. - Oct. — Corolla of the 

 upper (sterile) flowers whitish and purple, 6' - 8" long, cui-ved, 4-toothed. 



2. CON6PHOIiIS, Wallr. • Squaw-koot. Cancee-eoot. 



Flowers in a thick scaly spike, perfect, with 2 bractlets at the base of the irreg- 

 ularly 4 - 5-toothed calyx ; the tube split down on the lower side. Corolla tubu- 

 lar, swollen at the base, sti'ongly 2-lipped ; the upper lip arched, notched at the 

 summit ; the lower shorter, 3-partcd, spreading. Stamens protruded. Stigma 

 depressed. Pod with 4 placentse, approximate in pairs on the middle of each 

 valve. — Upper scales fonning bracts to the flowers ; the lower covering each 

 other in regular order, not unlike those of a fir-cone (whence the name, from 

 Koyvos, a cone, and (j>o\ts, a scale). 



1. C. Americana, Wallroth. (OrobiincheAmcricana,i.) — Oak woods; 

 not rare, growing in clusters among fallen leaves. May, June. — A singular 

 plant, chestnut-colored or yellowish throughout, as thick as a man's thumb, 

 3' -6' long, covered with scales, which are at first fleshy, then dry and hard. 



3. PHELiIPjEA, Toura. Bkoom-rapb. 



Flowers perfect, crowded in a spike, raceme, or clustered panicle, with a pair 

 of bractlets at the base of the regular 4 -5-cleft calyx. Corolla 2-lipped; the 

 upper lip 2-lobed or notched ; the lower 3-parted. Stamens included. Ovary 

 with a gland at the base on the upper side. Pod with 4 placentae, two on the 

 middle of each valve. — Stems rather thick, scaly. (Named for L. %■ J. Pheli- 

 peaiur, patrons of science in the time of Tourncfort. ) 



