BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 
Vol. 2. JANUARY, 1877. No. 8. 
A new Ouscuta, new at least to Norths America, comes now from California. A 
great wanderer is this 0. corymbosa, which nearly 40 years ago stirred up the botanists 
of Europe, and the agriculturists not less. This interesting plant has quite a little his¬ 
tory of its own. At the period indicated, between 1839 and 1843, an unknown Ouscuta 
made its'appearance almost simultaneously in different parts of western Europe, and, 
singularly enough, always on. Lucerne fields. In Germany it was described as O. 
suaveolens, G. Hassiaca, O. diaphana , and Engelmannia migrans, until CHoisy, in DC. 
Prod., recognizing its American origin, took it for O. corymbosa, R. & P. In my mono¬ 
graph of Cuscuta, 1859, I established the identity of the immigrant with the South 
American (7. mcemosa , Mart., which had been introduced into Europe with the much 
vaunted Chilian Alfalfa , in reality the old established European fodder plant, the 
Lucerne, and which proved very destructive to its nurse-plant. After 10 or 15 years the 
energetic measures of the farmers, together with wet and cool summers, in which the 
seeds did not mature, seem to have eradicated the plant entirely, and as far as I am in¬ 
formed, it has not been heard of again in Europe. But now, lo and behold, our 
wanderer makes its appearance in northern California, and, precisely as before in 
Europe, in Alfalfa fields, “proving very injurious.” It has been, without doubt, here 
also, imported from Chili. 
Rev. E. L) Greene, who has found so many new native plants in the Shasta Valley, 
sends also this troublesome newcomer. How long it has been there or whether it has 
Appeared in other parts of California, where under the well-sounding name of Alfalfa 
the Lucerne is frequently cultivated, is as yet unknown, nor whether it will establish 
itself permanently. It may be well to direct the attention of the farmers, who cultivate 
Alfalfa, to this dangerous enemy and to urge them to destroy any dodder whichSnay 
show itself in their fields, before it can spread or mature seeds. 0. racemosa, Mart., 
f belongs like our common 0. Gronovii to the section Glisto grammica, characterized by 
two;■ styles of’ unequal length tipped with capitate stigmas and a not-opening (baccate) 
capsule. Ovary and capsule are thickened towards the apex and somewhat pointed ; 
inflorescence loosely panicuiated with longish pedicels; flowers 1^—2 lines long, of 
thin texture, tube of corolla deeply campanulate, widening upwards, spreading lobes 
inflexed at the acute tip; scales nearly the length of the tube; capsule commonly en¬ 
veloped by the corolla/ 
The variety, Ghvliana, Eng. Cusc. p. 505, to which this form belongs, has larger and 
more delicate flowers than the original Brazilian type.—G. Engelmann. 
The Oldest Living Botanist.— The oldest living botanist is probably the 
Swede Elias Fries, born in 1794, and this eminent man is still active. 
He is a profound , philosophical Botanist, the basis of whose systematic ar¬ 
rangement of theFungifis still followed; and the Lichenological system presented in 
his Lichenographia Europcea Beformata, published in 1831, is still, with such modifica¬ 
tions as the advance of knowledge requires, the best that has been prepared, and is not 
likely to be superseded. The introductory remarks should be studied by all who take 
up this branch of botany, and the descriptions have not been surpassed. Fries’s bo¬ 
tanical publications are numerous, the most important of them being devoted to the 
Fungi and Lichens. In 1872 he commenced the publication of an illustrated work on 
Fungi, several fascicles of which have been published.— ~W. 
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Botanic/ 
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