350 CONVOLVULAC^E. j (CONVOLVULUS FAMILY.) 
Suborder II. CUSCUTINEiE. The Dodder Family. 
3 . ctr SCUTA* Tourn. Dodder. 
Calyx 5- (rarely 4-) cleft, or of 5 sepals. Corolla globular-urn¬ 
shaped, bell-shaped, or somewhat tubular, the spreading border 5- 
(rarely 4-) cleft. Stamens attached to the tube of the corolla, 
furnished with a scale-like often fringed appendage at their base. 
Ovary 2-celled, 4-ovuled : styles distinct (or rarely united). Pod 
mostly 4-seeded. Embryo thread-shaped, spirally coiled, in the 
rather fleshy albumen, entirely destitute of cotyledons ! Leafless 
herbs, chiefly annuals, yellowish or reddish in color, with thread- U 
like stems, bearing a few minute scales in place of leaves, rising 
from the soil in germination', soon becoming entirely parasitic on 
the bark of herbs and shrubs over which they twine j and to which 
they adhere by means of papillae developed on the surface in con¬ 
tact. Flowers small, cymose-clustered, mostly white. (Name 
of uncertain, supposed to be of Arabic, derivation.) — A new and 
complete monograph of this genus may soon be expected from Dr. 
Engelmann. 
§ 1. Stigmas elongated: pod opening regularly around near the base by I 
circumcissile dehiscence , leaving the partition behind. (Natives of 
the Old World.) 
1. C. Epilmum* Weihe. (Flax Dodder.) Stems very 
slender; flowers in small and dense scattered heads; corolla globular- | 
cylindrical, scarcely exceeding the 5-parted calyx, left surrounding 
the base of the pod in fruit; scales small; styles at first upright, not 
longer than the ovary- — In Flax-fields, where it is sometimes very 
injurious: sparingly introduced with flax-seed into the Northern States. 
June. 
§ 2. Stigmas capitate : pods indehiscent , rarely bursting irregularly. 
* Ovary depressed-globular , not pointed: pod thin and membranous , 
greenish or yellowish. 
2. C. clllorocarpa, Engelm. Low, orange-colored; flowers 
almost sessile, clustered; corolla mostly 4-cleft, open-bell-shaped , the 
tube about the length of the acute lobes and calyx-teeth , remaining per¬ 
sistent around the base of the depressed pod, the scales cut-fringed or 
cleft (rather small)stamens as long as the lobes. (C. Polygonorum, 
Engelm.) — Low grounds, covering Polygona and other herbs, Ohio 
and westward. 
3. C. tenuiflora, Engelm. Much branched, twining high, * 
pale-colored; flowers at length peduncled and in rather loose cymes; 1 
m 
6 7 8 9 10 
copyright reserved 
VP 
M I S SOU R I 
Botanical 
Garden 
