MONOGRAPHY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CUSCUTINE^E. 
(2.) LEPIDANCHE, 1 V. Gen . 
Calyx consisting of many imbricated scales, persistent; corolla tubular, 5-cleft; styles two; capsule 2-celled, 
2-seeded. 
Very similar to Cuscuta when young, but different in appearance when in flower or fruit. The stem which 
connects the different clusters of flowers having then disappeared, the latter only remain, consisting of innumerable 
crowded sessile flowers and scarious scales, spirally and most tightly coiled (with one or several turns) around the 
stems of the supporting plant, which at a distance appears as if a rope were twisted round it. . The flowers are so 
crowded that many are abortive, and as it were strangled, presenting nothing but a bunch of scales, and others, which 
are apparently perfect, do not mature seed. 
The principal difference between this genus and Cuscuta consists in the calyx, which is not monosepalous, but is 
composed of numerous imbricated scales ; of which the two or five exterior, being much smaller, may be considered as 
bracts ; while the ten inner, which are nearly equal in size and shape, crenulate, and with reflexed or squarrose 
summits appear to constitute the proper calyx. The corolla and stamens, with their scales, are entirely similar to the 
corresponding organs in Cuscuta : so is the ovary; but the unequal styles are generally longer in proportion, 
and the stylopodium is as large as the ovary proper, or even larger. The ovary is 2-celled and 4-ovulate; [344] 
but I have never seen more than two seeds, separated by the incomplete dissepiment; and frequently only a 
single seed ripens. 
1. Lepidanche Compositarum : stem low, branching; flowers closely sessile, conglomerate, 5-parted ; tube 
of the corolla nearly cylindrical, longer than the squarrose imbricated calyx, which consists of ten to fifteen scales, 
twice as long as the oblong obtuse spreading or reflexed lobes of the corolla ; stamens equal to the limb, exserted; 
scales pinnatifidly laciniate, convergent, covering the ovary ; styles twice as long as the ovary with the stylopodium ; 
capsule globose, enveloped by the scales of the calyx, crowned by the stylopodium and styles, and covered by the 
remains of the corolla. 
Yar. a. SolidAginis : flowers smaller ; lobes of the limb reflexed ; stylopodium half as large as the ovary. 
Var. /3. Helianthi : flowers larger; lobes of the limb spreading; scales of the filaments united with one another 
forming a 5-lobed crown in the tube ; stylopodium larger than the ovary. 
This singular plant appears to be peculiar to the Western prairies. I have observed it since 1833 in wet prairies 
around St. Louis, 2 on Solidago (also on Yernonia, Ch. Geyer ), and Dr. Clapp has found it on Silphium at New 
Albany, Indiana; the second variety I have gathered on Helianthus since 1838 in similar localities; flowering in 
August and September. These varieties 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 cylindrical, but a little wider at the mouth than at 
the base, rather obconic. The styles are longer than in any of our Cuscutse, and almost always unequal; they are 
inserted on a distinct stylopodium, which is larger than in any Cuscuta. The stigma is capitate, as in all American 
Ouscutae. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE YI. [Reproduced on p. 65.] 
Figs. 1-6. Cuscuta Cephalanthi. 1 . A tetramerous ; 2, a pentamerous flower. 3. Corolla laid open. 4. The 
ovary. 5. Vertical section of a half-grown capsule. 6. Capsule invested by the remains of the 
corolla. 
Figs. 7-11. C. Coryli. 7. A flower. 8. Corolla laid open. 9. Ovary and styles. 10. Same of var. £. 11. Cap¬ 
sule invested by the remains of the corolla. 
Figs. 12-16. C. vulgivaga. 12-14. Flowers. 15. Corolla laid open. 16. Ovary. 
Figs. 17-21. C. Saururi. 17. The flower. 18. Corolla laid open, with the indexed scales. 19. Ovary. 20. Vertical 
section of the half-grown capsule. 21. Mature capsule. 
Figs. 22-24. C. pentagons 22. Flower. 23. Corolla laid open. 24. Ovary. 
Fig. 25. Cf. Verrucosa. Flower. 
Figs. 26-29. C. Polygonorum. 26. Flower. 27. Corolla laid open. 28. Ovary. 29. Capsule. 
Figs. 30-35. Lepidanche Compositarum. 30. Flower of var. «. 31. Flower of var. 0 . 32. Corolla of £. laid open. 
33. Ovary and styles of var. a. 34. Same of #. 35. Capsule. 
N. B. The flower represented in fig. 1 is a line in length; all the others are enlarged in the same proportion. 
1 From \eirts, a scale, and &yxeiv, to strangle : a sealy plant, strangling those on which it grows. 
2 This is manifestly the Cuscuta Americana (from St. Louis) of Hooker’s account of Drummond’s collections, in the 
Companion to the Botanical Magazine , 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.” 
BOTANICAL 
cm copyright reserved garden 
