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C U S C U T A Earopæa.-
Greater Dodder.
T E T R A N D R I A Digynia.
G e n . C h a r . Calyx four-cleft. Corolla of one petal.
Capfule two-celled.
S p e c . C h a r . Flowers feffile, moftly four-cleft.
S y n . Cufcuta Europæa. Linn. Sp. PL x8o. With.Lot.
Arr. 165.
C. major. Raii Syn. 281.
O f all parafitical plants, the Dodder tribe are the molt lingular,
trufting for their nourifhment entirely to thofe v e g e ta b le s
about which they twine, and into whofe tender barks they in fe r t
fmall villous tubercles ferving. as roots, the original root of the
Dodder withering away entirely as foon as the young Item has
fixed itfelf to any other plant, fo that its connexion with the
earth is cut off.
The fpecies of Cufcuta are very ill underftood. N o tw i th -
ftanding the doubts of Dr. Stokes in the Bot. Arr. whether the
true Linnsean C. Europxa was ever found in England (the
C. Epithymurn, which has five-cleft flowers, being the molt
frequent), we think there can be no doubt of its being oar
plant. This fpecimen was gathered on the common h ea th ,
Erica vulgaris, on One-tree-hill at Greenwich. The flowers
are generally found with 4 divifions, rarely occurring w i th 5.
It may be met with plentifully in flower in July and Augult- •