563 



CLin. CUSCUTE^. 



Dichondra. 

 Ovule (mag.). 



Dichondra, 

 Embryo (mag.). 



Dichondra, 

 Enabryo (mag.)* 



Dichondra, 

 Seed cut transversely (mag.). 



free carpels (of which there are 2-4, united in pairs), its basilar styles and the valvate sestivation of its 

 corolla. The genus Dichondra comprises a few herbaceous, climbing, not milky species, which live in 

 the hot regiona [chiefly] of the southern hemisphere and of America. The genus Falkia is founded on a 

 South African shrub. 



CLIIL CUSCUTE^. 



(Convolvulorum: jpars^ Jussieu. — Cuscute^, Presl. — Cuscutin-^, Linh,) 



Cuscuta, 



Transveree section 



of fruic (mag,). 



Cuscuta. 



Flower cut vertically 



(mag.). 



Cuscuta, 



Andrcecium and corolla laid open, the latter 



showing on its tube petaloid laciniate 



scales, alternating with its lobes (mag.). 



Cuscuta. 

 Seed (mag.). 



CuscUa minor (mag.). 



Cuscuta, 

 Calyx and pistil (mag.). 



Cuscuta. 

 Seed cut Tertlcally," 

 showing the embryo 



coiled round 

 the albumen (mag,). 



The genus Cuscuta, which constitutes this little family, is separated from Conmlmlacece only by its 

 filiform stems of a reddish or gx-eenish-yellow colour, the absence of leaves, and its parasitism on other 

 plants by means of suckers, by the [often] transverse dehiscence of its capsular or sometimes fleshy fruit 

 and by the acotyledonous embryo, which is coiled spirally lound the albumen. The flowers are in a 

 head or spike, and are usually bracteate. 



Cuscutets inhabit all hot and temperate regions, as paiasites on the stems of many herbaceous or 

 even woody plants, which they exhaust by absorbing their elaborated sap. The Small Dodder (C. minor) 

 lives on Field Clover, Lucerne, Thyme, Broom, Furze, Heath, &c.j the C. tfensj^ora infests Flax fields j the 

 Large Dodder (C majw) is parasitic on Nettles and Hops, and even invades the peduncles of the Vine 

 enclosing them in its thread-like branches, whence the name of Bearded Grapes, given to the clusters 

 whose nutriment it has appropriated. 



