OROBAN/CHE.* Cal. of two lobed leaves: Bloss. gaping: Germen resting on a gland: Caps. one-celled, twovalved, many-seeded.†

(1) Floral-leaves solitary.

O. MAJOR. Stem unbranched, pubescent; (blossom inflated; upper lip nearly entire; lower in three equal segments: stamens smooth: style downy. E.)

Curt. 232-(E. Bot. 421. E.)-Kniph. 7—Tourn. 81, Obranche-Riv. Mon. 89. 1, Orobanche-Ger. 1130. 2-Pet. 69. 10-Park. 229. 1. a-Matth. 536-Lonic. ii. 24. 1.

(Whole plant of a dull purplish brown, becoming dry and membranous. E.) Root large, fleshy, oval, scaly, (with a few fibres. E.) Leaves none. Stem eight to twelve inches high, angular, clothed with dry scattered scales. Flowers (in a spike of fifteen to twenty, large, a little incurved, E.) cylindrical, brownish rust-coloured. Summit two yellow, globular lobes. Seeds exceedingly numerous. Relh. Floral-leaves spear-shaped, solitary, tapering.

COMMON BROOM-RAPE. (Irish: Muchog. Welsh: Corn yr afr; Paladr hir. E.) Parasitic, in dry ground, on the roots chiefly of diadelphous plants, as Spartium scoparium, Genista tinctoria, Trifolium, Ulex, Orobus tuberosus, Hieracium sabaudum and Centaurea Scabiosa. Also in cornfields in a sandy soil, which have probably had Broom growing on them. Broom Hills, very frequent. Mr. Woodward. Shrawley Wood, Worcestershire. Mr. Ballard. On a dry bank, near Clifton upon Teme, Worcestershire. Dr. Stokes. Raby Park, Durham. Mr. Robson. (Near Allerton Hall, in the road to Liverpool. Mr. Robert Roscoe. In Scots Wood Dean, Northumberland. Winch Guide. Near Burntisland. Hooker. Fl. Scot. Ken-wood, Hampstead, Middlesex; Little Baddow Common, Essex. Mr. W. Christy. Walls of Conway Castle, opposite the Suspension Bridge. B. Botfield, Esq. By the side of a foot-path at the edge of the cliffs west of Bitton, near Teignmouth, July, 1819. E.) P. May-June. (0. caryophyllacea. Sm. Linn. Tr. vol. iv. p. 169. greatly resembling the above in habit and size, and not very clearly ascertained to be specifically distinct, has been observed by Mr. G. E. Smith on the roots of Galium Mollugo, near Sandgate in Kent, and eastward to Dover, who further remarks that

(So called, according to Theophrastus, from poßos, the Orobus, Tare, or Vetch, and άynw, to strangle, (q. d. Strangle Tare); from its supposed power of destroying the plant on which its grows. Such at least is the literal translation, though there is reason to believe the Greek compound was applied by Theophrastus to some species of climbing plant, and that our Orobanche rather accords with the description by Dioscorides and Pliny. In the former instance the injury is effected by mechanical constriction; in the latter, by exhaustion of the juices of the plant from which it derives its principal nutriment. E.)

+In Lina. Tr., vol. 4, will be found a paper by the Rev. Charles Sutton, illustrative of this singular tribe of plants; by which it appears that they are not entirely parasitic, but acquire no small portion of sustenance from the soil by means of radical fibres. These plants have an acrid, astringent taste, and are rejected by all kinds of animals except the minuter Cimices and Thripses. They are acotyledonous: for when a seed has attached itself to the root of a living plant, it swells into a pellucid squamose gem or bulb; and after throwing out around the point of adhesion several tender fibres, it pushes up at once into A perfect plant, without any lateral lobes or cotyledops, the capitulum resembling a young head of asparagus. This process is well represented in Linn. Tr. vol, 4, t. 17. E.)

its peculiar characteristic, the scent of cloves, "garyophyllum olens," (Bauh.) is remarkably developed if the plant be flowered in water, Vid. pl. iii. in Obs. on the Plants of S. Kent, by Gerard. Edwards. Smith. E.) (O. ELA'TIOR. Stem undivided: blossom tubular, lower lip in three acute equal segments: stamens downy: style smooth.

Linn. Tr. vol. 4. t. 17-E. Bot. 568-Fl. Dan. 1338.

The Rev. C. Sutton, who first discriminated this species, states that it has usually been confounded with O. major. It is taller and yellower than that plant, also bearing a much more numerous assemblage of flowers; as many as a hundred having been counted on one spike. Smith observes that the leaves of the calyx are united at the base before; the blossom less inflated than in O. major; its border much curled and fringed; upper lip sometimes a little cloven. Stamens inserted into the tube above its base, smooth on the upper part. Stigma inversely heart-shaped, yellow. TALL BROOM-RAPE. Not uncommon in clover-fields, balks, and thickets; but not on the roots of Broom or Furze. About Gunton, Kelling, Sheringham, Catton, and Costesy, Norfolk. Rev. C. Sutton. At Houxton, Comberton Hill, between Shelford and Stapleford, Cambridgeshire. Rev. R. Relhan. (In Cawsey Wood, Durham. Mr. Winch, Near Leiston Abbey, Suffolk. Mr. W. Christy. In July, 1825, Mr. Frederick Russell gathered a specimen on the sea shore, a quarter of a mile from Clevedon New Inn, Somersetshire, which measured in height two feet one inch and a half, and was as thick as a man's thumb. E.) P. July-Aug. E.)

(O. MI'NOR. Stem simple: blossom tubular: upper lip undivided: lower with three curled segments, the middle one lobed: stamens fringed: style smooth.

E. Bot. 422-Fl. Dan. 1219.

Smaller in all its parts than O. major; and more generally of a purplish cast, though it has been sometimes found by the Rev. C. Sutton of a pale yellow colour. Floral-leaves solitary. Flowers scarcely at all tumid. Calyxleaves more unequally divided though not invariably so. Stem inclined to zigzag in a slight degree. Stamens in their lower part thickly ciliated with projecting hairs, a distinction which never fails. Stigma purple. E. Bot. Mr. Sutton remarks that the stigmas are not well represented in the above-cited figure of E. Bot., and that the spike is frequently much longer, bearing more numerous and more thickly set flowers than are there represented.

LESSER BROOM-RAPE. Plentiful in Kent, as found by Mr. Joseph Rayer, whence Sir J. E. Smith conjectures it to be the O. flore minore of Dill. in Ray Syn. In various parts of Norfolk; especially in clover-fields, to the roots of which it seems attached. Near Sheringham. Rev. C. Sutton. (A destructive weed in Surry and Sussex, highly injurious to the clover crops: also among clover at Brockham and Betchworth, Surry. Mr. Winch. Covering a field near Matford, on the Starcross road about half a mile from Alphington church, Devon. Rev. H. T. Ellicombe. E.) A? July. E.)

(O. RUBRA. Stem simple, blossom tubular, upper lip cloven: lower in three nearly equal segments: stamens fringed at the base; germen and style at their summits: bracteas solitary.

Hook. Fl. Lond. 105-E. Bot. 1786.

Roots creeping. Stem about a foot high, bulbous and most scaly at the base, ending in a spike of nearly twenty flowers, and clothed, as well as the upper part of the blossom, with glandular viscid hairs. Floral-leaves spear-shaped, acute. Calyx-leaves undivided. Blossom very slightly tumid, fringed with glandular hairs. Style red. The whole plant above ground is of a purplish red. The flowers smell powerfully like a honeysuckle or pink. E. Bot.

RED FRAGRANT or BASALTIC BROOM-RAPE. First discovered on a Basaltic rock at Cave hill, near Belfast, Aug. 1805, by John Templeton, Esq.) (Dr. Hooker considers that this plant has a peculiar predilection for Basaltic rocks, and, therefore, suggests that it might with propriety be named O. basaltica. On the Island of Staffa, and the Giant's Causeway, (also basaltic), springing out of a very thin layer of soil, having no appearance of being parasitic. Fl. Lond. Near Seafield Tower between Kirkcaldy and Kinghorn. Maughan. Grev. Edin. Ards, Donegal. Mr. Murphy. E.)

(2) Floral-leaves ternate.

(O. CERULEA. Stem simple: blossom tubular: upper-lip cloven and notched lower in three equal entire segments: stamens smooth: floral-leaves three: style downy.

:

E. Bot. 423-Jacq. Austr. t. 276-Gmel. Fl. Sib. v. 131. t. 46. f. 1. E.) Stem scaly, slightly downy; (about a foot high. E.) Scales oval-spearshaped, Spike loose. Floral-leaves oval-spear-shaped, somewhat keeled, as long as the calyx. Calyx with four deep divisions; segments awlshaped, the two outer the largest, the inner one next the stem very small. Blossom tube longer than the calyx; upper lip short, cloven, roundish : lower three-cleft. Stamens within the flower. Woodw. (In general less pubescent, and of a more decided blue colour than either O. major or minor. Blossom pale violet, with a downy, white, divided palate. Stem not always unbranched, according to the observation of Rev. C. Sutton. PURPLE BROOM-RAPE. O. cærulea. Vill. Orchis abortiva of the older British authors. O. purpurea. Jacq. O. ramosa. var. 2. With. Ed. 4. Hilly pastures on the north coast of Norfolk. A single specimen was found in 1779, by Mr. Scarles, near Northreps, and several more in 1796, near Sheringham, by Mr. Skrimshire, of Wisbeach; also by the Rev. C. Sutton at Beeston, near Cromer. E. Bot. Near Alton, in Hampshire. Ray. Among rocks at Steephill, Isle of Wight. Mr. Caley, in autumn, P. July. E.) O. RAMOSA. Stem branched, five-cleft: (segments obtuse, entire : floral-leaves three. E.)

1800.

E. Bot. 184; the root in a diseased state. Woodw.-Sabbat. iii. 12-Cam. Epit. 311-J. B. ii. 781. 2-Clus. i. 271. 1—Ger. Em. 1312. 3-Pet. 69. 11. Root a solid bulb, (sometimes tumid from injury or disease, E.), naked, or furnished with one or two spear-shaped sessile scales, and numerous short, thick, fibres, affixed laterally, adhering and intermixed with the fibres of the roots of hemp or other plants. Stem a continuation of the bulb, nearly cylindrical when fresh, angular when dry, slightly downy, brown or dirty yellow, naked, or furnished with very few scales. Branches either immediately from the root, or alternate, swelling at the base, nearly upright, with each a scale at the base. Spikes terminal. Floral-leaves oval-spear

shaped, somewhat keeled, sessile. Calyx segments pointed, the two outer largest, the inner halved, the sides next the stem being wanting. Blossom tube ventricose, yellow at the base, the upper part and lips bluish purple, hairy on the outside; upper lip roundish, cloven, lower lip broad, threecleft, the middle segment largest, and with two yellowish prominencies at the mouth. Filaments within the tube, bluish. Anthers yellow. Style longer than the filaments and bending towards them, bluish. Summit blunt. Woodw. Stem about a span high; generally, but not always,

branched. BRANCHED BROOM-RAPE. Corn-fields and dry pastures. (Mr. Sutton has found it only in rich moist soil. E.) Isle of Sheppey, and near Feversham and Rochester; about Glastonbury; and in Devonshire and Hants. Hudson. (In a Hemp-field on the opposite side of the river at Mettingham, near Beccles; and Brome, near Bungay, Suffolk, on the roots of hemp and Galeopsis Tetrahit, both annual plants. Mr. Woodward. Hemp-fields near Wisbeach. Rev. R. Relhan. (Among hemp at Outwell, Norfolk. Rev. C. Sutton. E.) A. June-Sept.

(The different species of Broom-rape are probably much alike in quality, viz. astringent and vulnerary. Where these plants abound they must be treated by the agriculturist as the most destructive weeds, which will fatally impoverish any other crop. E.)

ALYS'SUM.

SILICULOSA.

(1) Pouch not notched at the end.

Pouch egg-shaped, crowned with the style: valves concave: Filaments toothed: (Cotyledons accumbent. Br. E.) +

(CAMELI'NA. Pouch entire; valves tumid: Seeds numerous, not bordered: Filaments without teeth: Cotyledons incumbent. Br. E.)

DRA'BA. Pouch with nearly flat valves: Style none: (Cotyledons accumbent. Br. E.)

(The importance of the plants of the natural order of Crucifere to mankind, and the highly antiscorbutic powers of which they are possessed, have been indicated in our first volume. This latter quality appears to depend upon a certain acrid volatile oily principle, the chemical nature of which is imperfectly known; and it is observed that when any cruciferous plants are found to be eatable, either from culture or other circumstances, the improvement arises from a reduction of this peculiar principle. Plants of this order are also believed to possess diuretic and diaphoretic properties. Cruciferæ are always eatable when their texture is succulent, as in the roots of the Radish and Turnip, and in the leaves of the Cabbage tribe. A further diminution of the acrid principle is produced. by blanching. These vegetables are supposed to possess a greater share of azote than any others; which occasions their fetid smell when fermented. The embryos of all the order abound in oil, hence many species are employed with much advantage for expressing, either for the table, or for supplying lamps. Some are extremely beautiful and fragrant; and others among the most interesting of alpine plants. The more common kinds are of considerable utility to bees, as affording them a principal supply of spring food. They are also much frequented by different White Butterflies, as Pontia Brassica, Chariclea, Rapæ, metra, Napi, &c. well described and figured in Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 227. It is asserted that the seeds of cruciform plants, as also grain of all kinds, by steeping twelve hours in river water, (never in well-water,) and adding to each quart of water about fifteen drops of a strong solution of chlorine, the whole well mixed, and the maceration of the seed continued for six hours longer in the sun-light, and under a bell-glass, will be much increased in vegetative power, and, with the water of maceration poured over the ground when sown, will produce a crop three or four times as great as that obtained under ordinary circumstances; a fact worthy the attention of the agriculturist in seasons of scarcity, or when the seed may have suffered from depredation. Vid. Mag. Nat. Hist. E.)

+(The circumstance of the pouch being notched at the end, or otherwise, affords no certain characteristic of this genus. E.)