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Beechdrops. Cancer-Root

Epiphegus Virginiana. Broom-rate Family.

Stems.--Slender; fleshy; branching; with small scales; purplish, yellowish or brownish. Leaves.--None. Flowers.--Purplish, yellowish or brownish; spiked or racemed; small; of two kinds, the upper sterile, the lower fertile. These curious-looking plants abound in the shade of beech-trees, drawing nourishment from their roots. The upper open flowers are sterile; the lower ones, which never expand, accomplish the continuance of their kind.