334 Monography of the North American Cascutinea. 
albumen. Monotropece and Orobanchece have extremely minute 
seeds, in some respects similar to the spores of Acotyledonous 
plants. The see'ds of Cuscutir#ae germinate in the ground ; but 
soon finding the plants round ^.hich they twine, (turning con¬ 
stantly to the left, like all Convolvulaceae,) they strike their pa¬ 
pillose roots into the epidermis of the stem, from which they 
subsequently derive their nourishmentjtheir own original stems 
soon withering away, so that the Jj^t is no longer in direct 
communication with the earth. 
As in the Entozoa , the same species inhabits only the same or 
some nearly related animal, so in the Epiphyta , each species is for 
the most part restricted to the same or similar plants. This is 
more constantly the case in Orobanchece , where the germinating 
embryo fixes itself at once upon its favorite plant; but in Cuscuta, 
where the seed germinates in the ground, and the stem after¬ 
wards lays hold of the plant which affords its nourishment, it 
frequently twines around all the plants in the neighborhood, and 
is capable of extracting from them its food. Some species, how¬ 
ever, are more constant in their predilections than others; as, for 
example, the European Cuscuta Epilinum, which never grows 
on any other plant than Flax ; and our Lepidanche Composita- 
rum , which is confined to Solidago, Helianthus r and some other 
Compositce. Yet several, like the European Cuscuta Epithy - 
mum and the American C. Polygonorum , live promiscuously on 
most plants within their reach, evidently preferring, however, 
some particular species or genus, and seldom found except in its 
immediate vicinity, I have therefore ventured, as far as practi¬ 
cable, to name the species of Cuscuta after the plant'upon which 
they grow; in accordance with the nomenclature frequently 
adopted of late in the ease of parasites, especially in the j^nus 
. Orobanche, (Examp. Orobancke Galii , O. Eryngii, O. Scabio- 
sce, O. Salvia, etc.)—thereby designating an important circum¬ 
stance in the history of the plant. 
Before I proceed to describe the North American species known 
to me, it may be well to present a general 
7 Conspectus of the species that have come under my observation. 
I. Cuscuta, Limn. Sepals united into a 4-5-cleft calyx. 
7 8 9 10 Missouri 
BOTANICAL 
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