DIDYNAMIA ANGIOSPERMIA. 
136 
3. VlRGINIANA, 
Stem branching ; 
flowers alternate, dis- 
tant ; corolla decidu- 
ous, 4- toothed ; cap- 
sule obliquely trunca- 
ted, opening on one 
side. 
Sp. pi. 3. p. 351. Walt. p. 166. Mich. 2. p. 26. Pursh 2. p. 431. 
Epifagus Americana. Nutt. 2. p. 60. 
Root parasitic, somewhat tuberous, perennial. Stem 12 — 18 inches 
high, branching, smooth, carnose, bearing small remote scales. Floioers 
alternate, distant, nearly sessile, the lower ones bearing fruit, the upper 
ones generally abortive. Calyx short, 4-tooothed. Corolla 4-toothed, 
the sterile flowers much larger than the fertile, white, streaked with pur- 
ple. Stamens about as long as the corolla. Style simple. Stigma cap- 
itate. Capsule nearly round, dilating, after it opens, very much in the 
shape of a cup. 
Grows on the roots of Beech trees, to which tree it is exclusively at- 
tached. 
Flowers August — September. 
These three plants probably belong to distinct genera. The O. Amer- 
icana alone resembles strongly the European species of this genus. Mr. 
Nuttall, and I believe Mr. Rafinesque before him has pointed out the pro- 
priety of separating the O. Virginica from the other species. I am not 
able at present to turn to the observations of Mr. Rafinesque whose name 
would have at least the claim of priority, and I have continued to use the 
ancient arrangement. 
0 1 caule ramoso ; 
floribus alternis dis- 
tantibus ; corollis de- 
ciduis, 4-dentatis ; 
capsulis oblique trun- 
catis, hinc deliiscenti- 
bus. 
