COLLECTED DESCEIPTIONS OF CUSCUTA. 
105 
acute sepals, and the broad lobes of the corolla, which are rarely somewhat nerved ; stigmata also purple, [224 (16)] 
and anthers purple or yellow. 
125. C. cuspidata, Engelm. n. sp.: caule filiformi ramosissimo ; floribus pedunculatis in cymas laxas bracteosas 
dispositis 5-fidis; tubo corollse cylindrico sepala usque ad basin libera ovata concava (exteriora cuspidata) et lacinias 
limbi ovatas acutiusculas uninervias erectas s. patentes superante; staminibus limbo brevioribus ; squamis ovatis 
fimbriatis tubum subsequantibus; stylis filiformibus ovario (minuto) globoso pluries longioribus ; capsula globosa 
corolla marcescente obtecta. 
Yar. a. pRatensis : floribus minoribus ; calyce bracteis paucis involucrato; tubo corollse subcylindrico calycis et 
corollse segmentibus paulo longiore; staminibus limbi laciniis ovatis acutiusculis duplo brevioribus; stylis ovarium 
parvum duplo superantibus. — Dry prairies west of the Brazos, on Tephrosia , Bradburia, Ambrosia, etc, June, 
' Yar. 0. humida : floribus majoribus ; calyce bracteis pluribus involucrato ; tubo corollse infundibuliformi calycis 
et corollse segmenta duplo superante; staminibus laciniis limbi lanceolatis acutis paulo brevibribus; stylis ovarium 
minutum quater superantibus. Bottom lands of the Colorado, on Iva ciliata , Ambrosia trifida , etc. August, 1844 
(No. 276 infra). ’ 
A remarkable species. The stems are very much branched, filiform ; inflorescence loose paniculate, pedicels 
with many cuspidate bracts, some of them surrounding the calyx like an involucrum, similar in shape but smaller than 
the sepals; sepals somewhat lacerate or crenulate, ovate, carinate (the carina less distinct in the var. 0.), cuspidate, 
interior ones rather obtuse, all concave, loosely imbricated. Lobes of corolla thin, membranaceous, with a strong 
middle nerve, formed by large oblong or linear cells; when dry, convolute; the exterior ones generally somewhat 
cuspidate, the interior ones obtuse; at the base the lobes are dilated and cover one another more than in any other 
North American * species. Styles remarkably slender and long, about the length of the stamens, but 
elongated after flowering, when the corolla assumes an urceolate shape, and finally covers like a hood [225 (17)] 
the upper part of the globose capsule. — It appears to be an intermediate form between Cuscuta proper 
and Lepidanche. The var. 0. has larger and thinner flowers, of paler color, and the lobes of the corolla lanceolate 
and acute. 
126. C. pentagona, 0. calycina, Engelm. Wet prairies. June, 
y 127. C. verrucosa, Engelm., h e. Dry prairies. July. 1 
1 An undescribed North American species, collected in the 
Alleghanies of Virginia and North Carolina by Dr. Gray and 
Mr. Sullivant, in the autumn of 1843, is here appended. 
(This was named C. oxycarpa , n. sp.; but just as these sheets 
are going to press, Dr. Engelmann writes that Mr. Shuttle- 
worth has distributed the same plant from Engel's collection, 
with a printed label, under the name of C. rostrata, which he 
therefore now substitutes for his own. — A. Gr. ) 
C. rostrata, Shuttlew. in coll. Rugel: caule ramoso; 
floribus pedunculatis cymoso-umbellatis 5-partitis; tubo co¬ 
rollse globoso-campanulato calycis segmenta ovata obtusa 
leviter crenulata et lacinias limbi ovatas obtusas patentes 
(demum reflexas) duplo superante ; staminibus limbum sub- 
sequantibus ; squamis fimbriatis (convergentibus ?) basi inter 
se connatis; stylis filiformibus ovarium stylopodio ejusdem 
longitudinis coronatum pyriforme subsequantibus; corolla 
marcescente ad basin capsulse (maximse) acutatse persis- 
tente. — Alleghany Mountains from Virginia to South Caro¬ 
lina (Mr. Buckley! 1842), Prof. Gray and Mr. Sullivantl 
1843. — August to October. — Particular localities recorded 
by Messrs. Gray and Sullivant are : Grandfather and Negro 
Mountains, N. Carol.; Tygart’s Valley, Va.; and “common 
in moist, shady ravines in western Virginia.” The specimens 
which came under my observation grow on Urtica, Rubus, 
Aster, Solidago, Rudbeckia, and some other plants. 
After repeated and careful investigation, and with some 
hesitation, I have admitted this mountain plant as a distinct 
species, different from 0. vulgivaga. The large pointed cap¬ 
sule would seem to characterize it at once ; but C. vulgivaga 
offers so many different forms and sizes of the capsule, that 
other characters were necessary; and they are found in the 
tissue of the corolla, which is ever destitute of the large 
pellucid dots constantly observed in G. vulgivaga , but is 
composed, especially about the tube, of regular, somewhat 
elongated, hexangular cells, easily distinguishable in dried 
specimens with a common glass. In the common species 
the cells are linear, mostly much elongated, interspersed with 
the large air-cells which have been frequently mentioned. The 
flowers are mostly twice as large as in G. vulgivaga, but of the 
same shape and proportion, about 2 and sometimes (especially 
in Tygart’s Valley specimens) 3 lines long ; but the elongated 
ovary, whose stylopodium is nearly as long though only half 
as thick as the ovary proper, distinguishes it at once even 
from those forms of G. vulgivaga where the stylopodium is 
unusually large. The filiform styles are at first about the 
length of the stamina, but soon after they are long exserted. 
The capsule is very large, fully 3 lines long, globose, attenu¬ 
ated to a bifid point; it is larger and more acute than in any 
other known American species.—During the same journey 
the following species was abundantly collected : — 
C. (Lepidanche) compacta, Ghoisy: caule ramoso; 
floribus sessilibus glomeratis 5-partitis; sepalis sub-novem 
leviter crenulatis orbiculatis concavis adpressis, interioribus 
minoribus ; tubo corollse cylindrico calycem et lacinias limbi 
lineari-oblongas obtusas duplo superante; staminibus limbo 
brevioribus ; squamis pinnatifido-laciniatis ; ovario cum sty¬ 
lopodio stylos subsequante ; capsula globosa subacuta corolla 
marcescente obtecta 1-4-sperma. — North Carolina to Ala¬ 
bama, in the mountains, on shrubs, frequently on evergreens; 
on Gorylus rostrata, Buncombe Co., N. Carol.; on the same, 
and on Andromeda axillaris or spinulosa, on the sides of 
Negro Mountain, N. Carol., Prof. A. Gray and Mr. W. S. 
Sullivant; in Alabama, on Prinos glaber, Dr. Gates (Herb. 
Gray). 
This is clearly the Guscuta compacta of Choisy’s mono¬ 
graph (and of DG. Prodr. excl. syn.), described after speci- 
14 
