344 Monography of the North American Cascutinece. ", 
ger. The ovary is 2-celled and 4-ovulate: but I have nevef^ 
seen more than two seeds, separated by the incomplete dissepi¬ 
ment ; and frequently only a single seed ripens. 
/ LePIDANCHE CoMPOSITARUM. 
Stem low, branching; flowers closely sessile, conglomerate^ 
5-parted; tube of the corolla nearly cylindrical, longer than the | 
yy imbricated calyx, which consists of ten to fifteen scales, twice as 
long as the oblong obtuse spreading or reflexed lobes of the co¬ 
rolla ; stamens equal to the limb, exserted; scales pinnatifidl^l 
laciniate, convergent, covering the ovary; styles/Wice as long 
as the ovary with the stylopodium; capsule globose, enveloped^ 
by the scales of the calyx, crowned by the stylopodium an<f|| 
styles, and covered by the remains of the corolla. 
Yar. «. Solidaginis : flowers smaller; lobes of the limb refleskJj 
ed; stylopodium half as large as the ovary. 
p. Helia^thi : flowers larger, lobes of the limb spreading 
scales of the filaments united with one,another forming a 5-lobe^ 
crown in the tube; stylopodium larger than the ovary. -; V/! v lW 
This singular plant appears to be peculiar to the western prai^ 
%ies. I have, observed it since 1833 in wet prairies around St 1 
Louis * on Solidago, (also on Yerqonia, Ch. Geyer ,) and Dr, : i 
Clapp has found it on Silphium at Neyr Albany, Indiana; the se-r ^ 
cond variety I have gathered on Helianthus since 1838 in similar 
localities ; flowering in August and September. These varietie^ 
may prove distinct species; but for the present I am unable to ; 
distinguish them by more important characters than those given 
above. 
The flowers are always 5-parted ; the tube is not exactly cyt i 
lindrical, but a lit,tic wider at the mouth than at the J&se, ratheM 
obconic. The styles are longer than in any of our Cuscutse, and | 
almost always unequal; they are inserted on a distinct stylopcdl 
diurn, which is larger than in any Cuscuta. The stigma is cap^l 
itate, as in all American Cuscuta;. 
* This is manifestly the Cuscuta Americana (from St. Juouis) of Hooker’s ac?J 
count of Drummond’s collections, in the Companion to the Botanical Magazine a 
I, p. 173; of which it is remarked, that “ Some of the specimens seem to have all 
the flowers abortive, and turned into scales, which are excessively crowded, and! 
form a dense wreath of a pale straw-color, around the branch of some shrub.” | 
