GENUS 1, BROOM-RAPE FAMILY. 233 
Family 30. OROBANCHACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 287. 1830. 
BRooOM-RAPE FAMILY. 
Erect, simple or branched, brown yellowish purplish or nearly white root- 
parasites, the leaves reduced to alternate appressed scales, the flowers perfect, 
irregular (rarely cleistogamous ), sessile in terminal bracted spikes, or solitary and 
peduncled in the axils of the scales. Calyx inferior, gamosepalous, 4-5-toothed, 
4—5-cleft, or split nearly or quite to the base on one or both sides. Corolla gamo- 
petalous, more or less oblique, the tube cylindric, or expanded above, the limb 
2-lipped, 5-lobed. Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted on the tube of the corolla and 
alternate with its lobes, a fifth rudimentary one occasionally present; filaments 
slender ; anthers 2-celled, the sacs parallel, equal. Ovary superior, 1-celled, the 
four placentae parietal ; ovules numerous, antropous; style slender ; stigma discoid, 
2-lobed, or sometimes 4-lobed. Capsule 1-celled, 2-valved. Seeds numerous, 
reticulated, wrinkled or striate; embryo minute; cotyledons scarcely differentiated. 
About 11 genera and over 200 species, of wide geographic distribution, mostly in the northern 
hemisphere. 
Flowers all complete and perfect. 
Calyx 2-5-lobed or toothed. 
Calyx about equally s5-cleft; no bractlets on peduncles nor calyx. 1. Thalesia. 
Calyx unequally toothed, or split on both sides; flowers bracteolate. 2. Orobanche. 
Calyx spathe-like, split on the lower side, 3-4-toothed on the upper. 3. Conopholis. 
Lower flowers cleistogamous, fertile; upper complete, mostly sterile. 4. Leptamnium. 
1. THALESIA Raf. Am. Month. Mag. 2: 267. 1818. 
[ANOPLANTHUS Endl. Icon. Gen. Pl. 12. pl. 72. 1838.] 
[ApHyLiton A. Gray, Man. 290. 1848.] 
Glandular or viscid-pubescent simple-stemmed herbs, parasitic on the roots of various 
plants, with scattered scales, and long-peduncled yellowish white or violet, complete and per- 
fect flowers without bractlets. Calyx campanulate or hemispheric, nearly equally 5-cleft, the 
lobes: acute or acuminate. Corolla oblique, the tube elongated, curved, the limb slightly 
2-lipped, the upper lip erect-spreading, 2-lobed, the lower spreading, 3-lobed, the lobes all 
nearly equal. Stamens included; anther-sacs mucronate at the base. Ovary ovoid; placentae 
equidistant, or contiguous in pairs; style slender, deciduous; stigma peltate, or transversely 
2-lamellate. [Dedicated to Thales.] 
About 5 species, natives of North America. Type species: Orobanche uniflora L. 
Stem very short; peduncles 1-4, erect; calyx-lobes lanceolate, acuminate. 1. T. uniflora. 
Stem erect, 2’-5’ high; peduncles several; calyx-lobes broad, acute. 2. T. fasciculata. 
1. Thalesia unifléra (L.) Britton. Pale or Naked Broom-rape. One-flowered 
Broom-rape. Squaw-drops. Cancer-root. Fig. 3876. 
Orobanche uniflora L. Sp. Pl. 633. 1753. 
Anoplanthus uniflorus Endl. Icon. Gen. Pl. 12. pl. 
72. 1838. 
Aphyllon unifiorum T. & G.; A. Gray, Man. 290. 
1848. 
T. uniflora Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5: 298. 1894. 
Stem usually less than 1’ long, nearly subter- 
ranean, bearing several ovate-oblong scales and 
1-4 slender erect scape-like glandular-puberulent 
naked 1-flowered peduncles 3-8’ high. Calyx 
campanulate, pubescent, glandular, 4’-5” high, 
less than one-half the length of the corolla, its 
lobes as long as the tube or longer, lanceolate, 
acuminate; corolla white or violet, puberulent 
without, 8”-12” long, the curved tube about 3 
times as long as the limb, the short lobes oval 
or obovate, obtuse; placentae nearly equidistant ; 
capsule ovoid, longer than the calyx. 
In woods and thickets, parasitic on the roots of - 
various herbs, Newfoundland to Ontario, South 
Carolina and Texas. Far western plants, formerly 
referred to this species, prove to be distinct. 
Pipes. April-June. 
