COXYOLYULUS FAMILY. 



249 



and the season Tvas remarkably dry, so that I scarcely expected to see 

 them grow ; but a wet season coming on, soon convinced me that my 

 apprehensions Vv^ere unnecessary, for they quickly covered the whole sur- 

 face of the bank, to the almost total extirpation of every other plant. 

 It being a generally received opinion, that if a plant was cut down close 

 to the ground, it would thereby be destroyed, or at least very much 

 weakened, I was determined to try the validity of this opinion by an 

 experiment, and accordingly, the whole of the Convolvulus was cut 

 down somewhat below the surface of the earth. In about a month the 

 bank was covered with it thicker than before. I then had recourse to 

 a second cutting, and afterwards to a third : but all these were insuffi- 

 cient ; for now at this present v>-riting (August) the bank is wholly 

 covered with it ; nor do I expect to destroy it, but by levelling the 

 bank and destroying the roots." 



The common Morning-glory is placed by some botanists in this genus, 

 and by others, it is referred to Ipomoea, which differs from Convolvulus 

 chiefly in its capitate, and often 2 - 3-lobed stigma. This, the IpomcE'a 

 purpurea, L., is sparingly naturalized about dwellings ; and a very hairy 

 species, 1. Nil, Roth, is found in similar situations in the Southern 

 States. The beautiful Cypress Vine, often cultivated, and somewhat 

 spontaneous Southward, is Quam'oclit vulga'ris, Chois. 



3. CUS'CUTA, Tournef. Doddek. 



[A name of uncertain derivation and obscure meaning.] 



Ca/7/x 4 - 5-cleft. Coro//a globose-urceolate or tubular,— the limb 5 or 

 rarely 4-cleft. Stamens furnished with a scale-like, often fringed appen- 

 dage at the base. Ovary free, 2-celled and 4-ovuled ; styles 2, rarely 

 united into 1. Fruit mostly capsular,— the pericarp m.embranaceous, 

 circumscissed at base or bursting irregularly. Embryo spiral, filiform, 

 more or less convolute in and around fleshy albumen. Parasitic Jierhs, 

 with slender twining leafless orange-colored stems ; germinating in the 

 earth, but speedily attaching themselves to other plants by radicating 

 processes, through which they derive nourishment, — and, dying at the 

 root, soon lose all direct connection with the soil Flowers clustered. 

 1. C. epili'num, V/eih. Stem filiform ; flowers in dense capitate sessile 

 rather distant clusters ; corolla globular, 5-parted, scarcely exceeding 

 the calyx, withering on the capsule ; scales minute ; stigmas elongated ; 

 pod opening regularly around the base by a circumsissile dehiscence. 

 Flax Cuscuta, Flax-vine. Dodder. 

 Fr. Fil de terre. Germ. Die Flachs-seide. Span. Cuscuta. 



Annual. Stem 2-3 or 4 feet long, very slender, smooth, pale orange-color. Flowers in 

 gmall dense heads or clusters. Calyx segments i - b ovate , rather acute. Corolla yellowish- 

 white or pale orange-color, subglohosc-urceolate, 4-5-lobed; lobes ovate, acute, some- 

 what spreading. Stamens inserted at the clefts of the corolla. Scales adr ate to the coroUt 

 below the stamens, short, truncate, crenate-laciniate. Capsule depressed-globose. Seeds 

 reddish-brown, scabrous or almost muricate under a lens. 



Farasltic on flax ; introduced. Native of Europe. jPL June. i^r. July. 



