Parasitic herbs, destitute of green foliage. Corolla more or less 2-lipped. Stamens didynamous. Ovary 1-celled with 2 or 4 parietal placentae, many-seeded.

I. Epiphe'gus

Nutt. (Beech-drops.) E. Virginia'na, Bart. A yellowish-brown branching plant, parasitic on the roots of beech-trees. Flowers racemose or spiked; the upper sterile, with long corolla; the lower fertile, with short corolla.

2. Conoph'olis

Wallroth. Squaw-root. C. Amepica'na, Wallroth. A chestnut-coloured or yellow plant found in clusters in oak woods in early summer, 3-6 inches high and rather less than an inch in thickness. The stem covered with fleshy scales so as to resemble a cone. Flowers under the upper scales; stamens projecting.

3. Aphyl'lon

Mitchell. Naked Broom-rape. Cancer-root.

1. A. uniflo'rum, Torr, and Gr. Plant yellowish-brown. Flower solitary at the top of a naked scape. Stem subterranean or nearly do, short and scaly. Scapes 3-5 inches high. Calyx 5-cleft, the divisions lance-awl-shaped. Corolla with a long curved tube and 5-lobed border, and 2 yellow-bearded folds in the throat. Stigma 2-lipped. - Woods, in early summer.

2. A. fasciculatum, Gray. Scaly stem erect, and rising 3 or 4 inches above the ground, mostly longer than the crowded peduncles. - N.W.; parasitic on Artemisia, etc.