372 OROBANCHACE^E 



i. OrobAnche\ — Upper lip of corolla erect, 2-lobed. 



2. LathR/EA. — Flowers secund ; upper lip of corolla arched, 

 entire. 



i. Orobanche (Broom-rape). — Parasites with -flowers in a 

 many-sided spike, with i — 3 bracts below each ; calyx of 2, lateral, 

 usually 2 -cleft sepals ; corolla gaping, 4 — 5-cleft, its upper lip 

 erect, 2-lobed, its base persistent. (Name from the Greek brobos, 

 a vetch, ancho, I strangle, from the injurious effects produced in 

 the plants to which they attach themselves.) 



* Bracts 3 under each flower 



1. purpiirea (Blue Broom-rape). — A slender, tough, un- 

 branched species, with pale blue flowers with purple veins, occur- 

 ring on Milfoil. — Southern counties ; rare. — Fl. June, July. 

 Perennial. 



2.* 0. ramdsa (Branched Broom-rape), distinguished by its 

 branched stem, occurs on the roots of Hemp, with the seeds of 

 which it is introduced, but is very rare. — Fl. August, September. 

 Annual. 



** Bracts one to each flower 



3. 0. major (Greater Brocm-rape). — A stout, viscid, leafless 

 club-like plant, of a reddish-brown hue, with stem much swollen at 

 the base, and clothed with tapering scales, which pass into bracts 

 as they ascend the stem ; flowers crowded into a dense spike ; 

 corolla reddish-yellow, tubular, the lower lip 3-lobed, the middle 

 lobe blunt and longer than the others ; stamens inserted at the 

 base of the corolla, smooth below, downy above ; style downy ; 

 stigma of 2 diverging yellow lobes. — On the roots of Furze, 

 Broom, and other shrubs of the Order Leguminosce ; frequent. — 

 Fl. May — August. Perennial. 



4. 0. rubra (Red Broom-rape). — A small, reddish species, 4 — 8 

 in. high, with a loose spike of dull red sweet-scented flowers, with 

 a downy corolla and pale pink, 2-lobed stigma. — On the roots of 

 Thyme when growing on basaltic rock in Scotland and Ireland, 

 and on magnesian rock at the Lizard ; rare. — Fl. June— August. 

 Perennial. 



5. 0. caryophylldcea (Clove-scented Broom-rape), a similar, but 

 stouter, brown species with reddish-brown or purplish flowers, with 

 hairy stamens and a dark purple stigma, grows on the roots of 

 Galium Molhigo (Hedge Bed-straw) in Kent. — Fl. June, July. 

 Perennial. 



6. 0. eldtior (Tall Broom-rape). — A tall, yellow plant, 2 — 3 feet 

 high, with many-veined sepals ; corolla slightly compressed above, 



