48 CUSCUTACEAE. Vor. IIL. 
Family 21. CUSCUTACEAE Dumort, Anal. Fam. 20. 1829. 
Dopver Famity. 
White or yellow slender parasites, dextrorsely twining, the leaves reduced to 
minute alternate scales, the small white, yellowish or pinkish flowers cymosely 
clustered. Calyx inferior, 5-lobed or 5-parted (rarely 4-lobed or 4-parted), or 
of 5 distinct sepals. Corolla campanulate, ovoid, urceolate or cylindric, 5-lobed 
(rarely 4-lobed), the lobes imbricated in the bud, the tube bearing as many 
fimbriate or crenulate scales as there are lobes and alternate with them, or these 
sometimes obsolete. Stamens as many as the corolla-lobes and alternate with 
them, inserted in the throat or sinuses above the scales, short-exserted or included; 
filaments short or slender; anthers short, ovate or oval, obtuse, 2-celled, the sacs 
longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary globose to oblong, 2-celled; ovules 2 in each 
cavity; styles 2, terminal, separate, or rarely united below; stigmas linear or capi- 
tate. Capsule globose or ovoid, circumscissile, irregularly bursting or indehiscent, 
1-4-seeded. Seeds glabrous, globose or angular; embryo linear, terete, curved 
or spiral, its apex bearing 1-4 minute scales, endosperm fleshy; cotyledons none. 
1. CUSCUTA [Tourn.] L. Sp. Pl. 124. 1753. 
Characters of the family. The filiform twining stems are parasitic on herbs and shrubs 
by numerous minute suckers. The seeds germinate in the soil and the plantlet attaches itself 
to its host, its root and lower portion soon perishing. The subsequent nutrition of the 
parasite is apparently wholly through its suckers. [Name from the Arabic.] 
About 100 species, of wide geographic distribution. Besides the following, some 15 others 
occur in the southern and western parts of North America. Known as Dodder, or Strangle-weed. 
Type species: Cuscuta europaca L. 
* Corolla-scales crenulate; stigmas slender; capsule circumscissile; introduced species. 
Scales crenulate above, not incurved. 1. C. Epilinum, 
Scales crenulate all around, strongly incurved. 2. C. Epithymum. 
** Corolla-scales fringed; stigmas capitate; capsule indehiscent; native species. 
Sepals united below into a gamosepalous calyx. 
Flowers very nearly sessile; corolla persistent at the base of the capsule. 
Corolla-scales ovate, fringed all around; calyx-lobes obtuse. 3. Cy arvensis, 
Corolla-scales abortive, or of a few processes; calyx-lobes acutish. 4. C. Polygonorum, 
Flowers distinctly pedicelled ; corolla enclosing or capping the capsule, or at length deciduous. 
Tips of the corolla-lobes incurved or reflexed. 
Scales ovate, fringed all around ; capsule enclosed by the corolla. 5. C.indecora, 
Scales abortive, or of a few slender processes ; corolla capping the capsule. 6. C. Coryli. 
Corolla-lobes spreading or recurved. 
Scales small, irregularly fringed ; capsule depressed-globose. 7. C. Cephalanthi. 
Scales long, fringed mainly above; capsule pointed. 
Corolla 1%” long; capsule globose, short-pointed. 8. C. Gronovii, 
Flowers 2”-3” long; capsule oval, long-pointed. 9. C. rostrata. 
Sepals separate, subtended by similar bracts, 
Flowers cymose, pedicelled ; scales short ; bracts entire. 10. C. cuspidata. 
Flowers closely sessile in dense clusters ; bracts serrulate. 
Bracts few, broad, appressed; styles as long as the ovary. 11. C. compacta. 
Bracts numerous, narrow, their tips recurved; styles longer than the ovary. 12. C. parado.ra, 
1. Cuscuta Epilinum Weihe. Flax Dodder. 
Fig. 3442. 
Cuscuta Epilinum Weihe, Archiv. Apoth. 8: 54. 1824. 
Cuscuta densiflora Soyer-Willem, Act. Soc, Linn, Paris 
Ai 281, 1626, 
Stems very slender, yellow or red; flowers sessile 
in dense clusters, yellowish white, about 13” long. 
Calyx hemispheric, 5-lobed, the lobes acute, nearly 
as long as the corolla-tube; corolla yellowish-white, 
short, cylindric, becoming urceolate, 5-lobed, the 
lobes ovate, acutish, spreading, its scales short, erect, 
less thai! one-half the length of the tube, 2-cleft or 
emarginate, crenulate above, the crenulations not ex- 
tending to the base; stigmas linear-filiform; capsule 
circumscissile, the withering-persistent corolla borne 
on its summit. 
On flax, Nova Scotia to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 
Introduced from Europe. Native also of Asia. July- 
Aug. 
