8EPTEMBEB. 379 



the roots of the Monotropa, or in some mysterious 

 way bound up in its economy I am unable positively 

 to determine, but it connects the plant in an inextri- 

 cable manner with the beech rootlets, which in some 

 instances appear actually metamorphosed into a fun- 

 goid aspect. Mr. NEWMAN has suggested in the 

 Phytologist (vol. i. p. 299), that " many species of 

 ferns derive part of their food through the decaying 

 portions of the bark and wood of trees to which their 

 rhizomata are appressed : if this be parasitism then I 

 think it will not be difficult to prove a like parasitism 

 in the plant now under consideration." When it is 

 found also that the Monotropa is always seen in con- 

 nection with beech or pine trees, and often growing 

 in circles around them within their dense shadows, 

 there certainly seems at first view a connection in the 

 economy of the plant with these trees ; and as on 

 further examination the masses of decayed matter in 

 which they grow are always permeated by a labyrinth 

 of rootlets, mostly in a decayed state, the probable 

 truth appears to be such a modified parasitism as Mr. 

 NEWMAN supposes. Dr. HOOKER in the Flora Lon- 

 dinensis says that the Monotropa is " one of the most 

 anomalous and singular of British plants. In general 

 aspect it approaches nearer to OrobancTie than to any 

 thing else, but is totally different in the structure of 

 its fructification. The young plants have a graceful 

 form from the circumstance of their drooping heads, 

 which become quite erect as the flowers advance. 

 There is a very peculiar smell arising from every part 



always found broken up in the vicinity of the Monotropa. I am inclined 

 to think still that the roots of the Monotropa do absorb nutriment from 

 the diseased rootlets of the beech, and that the byssoid appearance about 

 the Monotropa is owing to this disarrangement. 



