7S2 0 110 BAN'C H E. 
that thefe plants are not ftrift’y parafitic, as Epidendrum, 
Vi'fcum, Szc. are; for they acquire fuflenance and (lability, 
not only from the fofter-plants to which they are attached, 
but alfo, and that in no (mail degree, from the foil, into 
which they fend forth radical fibres ; that they exhibit an 
ungraceful formality from the want of leaves, and have 
their furfacemore or lefs befet with minute pellucid glan- 
duliferous hairs, which projeft perpendicularly from the 
Hems, feales, bra-ftes, calyx, and corolla, and are fome- 
titnes found within the flowers, upon the very ftamens 
and piftils ; thefe, acccording to the remarks of Guettard, 
have each an articulation at the diftance of about two- 
thirds from their bafe, and are tipped with a globular fort 
of cup, bearing a vifeid gland : we may fuppofe them to 
be intended to carry off fecretions, and to anfwer the pur- 
pofes of leaves in performing the offices of refpiration, &c. 
They have an acrid aftringent tafte, and are rejected by 
all animals, except the minuter tribes of Cimices and 
Thripfes. He remarks, laffly, that they are acotyledo- 
nous; for, when a feed has attached itfelf to the root of 
any living plant, to which it is fuited by its nature to 
adhere, it Swells into a pellucid fcaly germ or bulb ; and, 
after throwing out around the point of adhefion feveral 
tender fibres, it pufhes up at once into a perfect plant, 
without any lateral lobes or cotyledons ; developing fil'd 
the feales and then the flalk, with a head of flowers con¬ 
cealed by brattes, in form refembling a young head ofaf- 
paragus : the flowers afterwards expandin fucceflion up¬ 
wards, and the head becomes a fpike. Adanfon has 
clafled this genus among his monocotyledones ; and Juf- 
fieu among his dicotyledones. 
It is Angular that thefe plants fhould attach themfelves 
to fhrubs and herbs of the clafs diadelphia chiefly. Mr. 
Sutton fays he has had no experience of the common no¬ 
tion of the banefulnefs of Orobanche, in dedroying the 
plants that feed it: the learned Dr. William Turner, how'- 
ever, affirms that, notwithdanding he has not feen any 
broom choked with this herb, he has obferved clover 
to be utterly drangled, and all the natural juice to be 
clean drawn out by it; he therefore calls it choke-weed. 
Dr. Smith having fliown that no fuch plant as Oro¬ 
banche lasvis exids, it is here omitted. There are dill 19 
fpecies, five having been added by Dr. Smith and the 
Rev. Mr. Sutton, in the Linn. Tranf. vol. iv. the Englifh 
Botany, &c. 
1. Orobanche major, or common broom-rape: ftem 
quite fimple ; corollas quadrifid, inflated ; flamens naked 
below; fligma with two didant lobes; flyle pubefeent 
above. Our common broom-rape has a large thick flefhy 
oval fcaly root, fometimes bulbous, adhering to the 
•woody roots of broom and furze for the mod part ; “ the 
which (as Turner fpeaks) it clafpethaboute with certaine 
lyttel rootes on everye fide, lykea dogge holdying a bone 
in his mouth.” It is furnifhed with fimple fibres, which 
are very brittle. Stems feveral, upright, flefhy, hollow, 
channelled or angular, hairy, the thicknefs of a finger, 
from eight inches or a foot to eighteen inches in height, 
of a dufky yellow or rud colour, tinged with purple, 
clothed with lanceolate fcattered feales, which are much 
clofer under ground. Flow'ers in fpikes, at fird pointed, 
but afterwards cylindrical ; they are feffile, hairy, brown- 
ifh-rud colour, with a purpliflr tinge for the mod part; 
when old, they become did’ and of a dirty-rud colour. 
Mr. Woodward deferibes it with four teeth, the two 
outer longer and diarper, the lower blunt; and Mr, Cur¬ 
tis, as one-leafed, divided into four fegments, pofre- 
riorly quite down to the bafe, and anteriorly more deeply 
than at the fides ; villofe, whitifh, the fegments or teeth 
nearly equal and ferruginous. Mr. Curtis remarks alfo, 
that the germ is marked anteriorly at the bafe with three 
protuberant yellow glands, which pour forth plentifully 
a fueet liquor; that it varies in fize according to the iize 
of the root it grows on, the dem being fometimes almod 
as thick as the human thumb, and at other times not 
much larger than a wheat-draw; and that the flowers 
vary much in their colour, but are moffly dead-purple or 
yellovvifh. It is found in dry barren ground, generally 
at tlv roots of broom or furze; flowering in June. 
2. Orobanche feetida, or fetid broom-rape : dem 
fimple; corolla fomewhat inflated ; all its fegments 
rounded, and toothed at the'edge. Stamens hairy at the 
top and bottom ; flyle (lightly hairy upwards. Frequent 
in wild as well as cultivated ground in Barbary, in the 
fpring. It is taller and more (lender in habit than the 
former, with a long cylindrical fpike. The calyx-leaves 
are fplit into two deep long and narrow' unequal feg¬ 
ments. Corolla dark-purple; its upper lip in two, lower 
in three, all nearly-equal rounded lobes, fharply toothed 
at the edge. The flowers are faid to be fetid ; but, ac¬ 
cording to Valil, this circumdance is variable. 
3. Orobanche rubra, or red fragrant broom-rape: dem 
fimple ; corolla tabular, fringed ; its upper lip cloven ; 
lower in three nearly-equal fegments ; flamens fringed on 
one fide at the bafe ; gertnen and flyle at their fummits ; 
calyx-leaves undivided. Difcovered by John Templeton, 
efq. a mod acute and obferving botanid, growing plenti¬ 
fully on the bafaltic rock at Cave-hill, near Belfaft, in 
Augufl 1805. The roots creep, but do not appear to be 
attached to thofe of any other plant. The whole plant is 
near a foot high, of a purplifh-red, fiightiy downy. The 
flow'ers fine] l powerfully like a honeyfuckle or pink. 
4. Orobanche elatior, or tall broom-rape: item quite 
fimple; corollas quadrifid ; flamens with glandular hairs 
below; fligma obcordate ; dyle fmooth above. Tall 
broom-rape has a root like that of N° 1. adhering 
moflly to the woody roots of Centaurea fcabiofa and 
Trifolium pratenfe. Stem alfo like that, but taller. 
Flowers in a long fpike, hairy, of a pale-rulfet or feuille- 
mort colour, with darker veins, and pale-yellow fligmas ; 
afterwards they become did’, fomewhat comprefled, and 
rufl-coloured ; fometimes there are upwards of a hundred 
of them in a fpike. Calyx abbreviated, hairy, one-leafed, 
four-cleft, behind divided to the very bafe, with the feg¬ 
ments lanceolate, acuminate, the two poflerior ones di¬ 
varicating and longifli; it is fiightiy driated, dirty-white 
with pale-red lines. Corolla four-cleft, hairy ; tube cy¬ 
lindrical, recurved, keeled at the back ; mouth open ; 
border two-lipped, unequal, fringed, and curled ; upper lip 
rounded, reflex, entire; lower three-lobed, the lobes 
equal and rounded. Nedtary, four glands inferted into 
the tube at tiie bafe of the filaments ; which are fmooth 
and naked in front, hairy at the bafe behind, the hairs 
not glandular; the two fhorter filaments are inferted into 
the fides, the two longer into the anterior part of the 
tube. Anthers twin, mucronate at one of the tips, 
fiightiy adhering; finally Handing out along with the 
dyle. Germ ovate, fmooth, naked. Style fmpoth, naked. 
Stigma two-lobed, obcordate, yellow, tranfverfely cloven 
along the middle. Seeds wrinkled, or obfoletely netted. 
It is found among clover, but not the firfl year; alfo 
on the borders of corn-fields by Centaurea fcabiola and 
nigra, Scabiofa arvenfis, &c. flowering in July and Au- 
gult ; and is no uncommon plant, but has been con¬ 
founded with N° 1. although, notwithdanding they are 
fimilar in general appearance, the difterence is very dif- 
cernible on a clofer in fpeflion. This is repref’ented on the 
annexed Engraving, at fig. 1. of its natural fize. a, the 
fpike; b, that part of the deni which is found below the 
furface of the earth; but a and h are not correfpondent 
parts: the intermediate part, which connects the bottom 
of a with the top of b, needs no figure for explanation : 
it is ufually about the length of b. 
5. Orobanche caryophyllacea, or clove broom-rape : 
dem Ample ; corolla inflated, fringed, and curled ; feg¬ 
ments of the lower lip blunt and equal; flamens hirfute 
at the bafe within. Root bulbous, covered with feales. 
Stem upright, not branched, more than a palm in height, 
five lines thick at the bafe, fomewhat angular, folid with- 
k 
