68 



POPULAR XL'IEXCE MUX Til LY 



their parasitic roots down through the sap wood of the host to procure 

 their nourishment, the host, not being able to eject them entirety, forms 

 a ball-like excrescence around the juncture of the two plants by the 

 irritable hypertrophy of the tissues thus caused in the host. If the 

 invading plant be pulled out of the growth thus formed, a delicately 

 carved socket will be seen, very much like that of these ' wooden 



flowers," but upon a smaller scale. 

 Thus such a ' flower,' though 

 small and usually upon a large 

 limb, is formed whenever a mistle- 

 toe grows upon an oak. 



These large ' wooden roses ' are, 

 therefore, nothing more than the 

 protective hypertrophied tissue 

 formed by the branches of some 

 host tree when attacked by a para- 

 site, which in this case is a gigan- 

 tic species of mistletoe, Lorentlius 

 Ladebeckii (Engl.), growing upon 

 any one of several host trees, the 

 principal ones being Citrus medico, 

 and several species of conifers. 

 The Ladebeclxii flourishes in iso- 

 lated zones throughout the western 

 coast of the American continent 

 from northern Mexico to Terra del 

 Fuego, but has never been authen- 

 tically reported from any other 

 part of the globe. 

 The one remarkable thing which attracts attention to these growths 

 and causes them to be mistaken for flowers is the great proportions 

 attained by them. The ' stem,' which of course is a limb of the host 

 plant, rarely exceeds an inch and a half in diameter, the parasite evi- 

 dently not being able to attack other than the younger and more vigor- 

 ously growing shoots. As long as these can supply the nourishment 

 for the Ladebeckii, it grows, the excrescence upon the citrus becoming 

 larger and larger until the distal portion of the branch dies, leaving 

 the small inner portion of the branch supporting a large ball from 

 which grows the parasite. At the end of a few years, say four to seven, 

 sufficient nourishment can no longer reach the parasite, either because 

 the small supporting branch can no longer carry it, or the protective 

 excrescence has shut it off from the intruder, which therefore drops 

 out, leaving the open, delicately carved formation, which so resembles 

 ' wooden flowers ' as to give rise to the remarkable legend above re- 

 counted. 



Fig. 3. A Branch of Pinvs, showing 'he 'wooden 

 flowers ' roughly divided into four petals. 



