VARIOUS PARASITIC PLANTS; WITH AN OWL STORY 



939 



position, becoming a pale, tawny salmon color; it is with False Beech-drops, it is a very different appearing 



usually ten-grooved and five-celled, and forms a large, plant (Figs. 5 and 6). 



fleshy, ovoid seed-vessel." In favorable localities Quoting Mathews for these Beech-drops, he tells us 



we may meet with a considerable number of Indian that it is "a parasitic plant, which draws its sustenance 



Pipe plants from the roots 



growing in the 

 same piece of 

 woods. In the 

 hilly, t i m bered 

 country north of 

 Cabin John 

 Bridge, west of 

 Washington, is a 

 great place to 

 find them along 

 in June ; while 

 further South, as 

 in southern Vir- 

 ginia, they put 

 in an appearance 

 much earlier. 



Gray d i v ides 

 the genus Mono- 

 tropa into two 

 groups or sub- 

 genera, namely, 

 the Enmonotro- 

 p a , represented 



Fig. 3— OUR "ONE-FLOWERED CANCER- 

 ROOT" IS A CURIOUS PLANT AND THIS IS 

 AN UNUSUALLY FINE SPECIMEN 



of the beech 

 tree. The stem is 

 tough, straight, 

 almost upright- 

 branched, stain- 

 ed with brown 

 madder, and set 

 with a few small, 

 dry scales. The 

 curved, tubular, 

 dull magenta and 

 buff-brown up- 

 per flowers are 

 p u r pie-striped ; 

 although gener- 

 ally sterile they 

 are complete in 

 every part, the 

 style slightly 

 protruding b e - 

 yond, and the 

 stamens just 

 within the 



The Broom-rape family iOrobanchaceae), to which 

 this plant belongs, is not a very extensive one; 

 its representatives, upon the other hand, possess 

 a special interest for us. 



by the Indian 



■A- , , throat The tinv Fig. 4-HERE IS A GROUP OF INDIAN PIPE 



Pipe, and the tnroai. 1 ne nny ^Ij^^^^ taken in situ, just as they 



,j ^ ., lower flowers GREW IN NATURE. (Monotropa umflora) 



Hypopitys, ere- ' u w c i uuwcis 



„_„ r-lpJctntTam Indian Pipe is likewise called Corpse Plants and 



are ClClSLUgaill- pj„esap, and some of its relatives in the Heath 



1 J . family iErincacfae) are White Alder, Shin Leaf, 



O U S ClOSea to Laurels, Azaleas, Cranberries, Huckleberries and 



, J a vast host of others. 



outward a g e n- 



cies and self-fertilized. A few of the upper flowers are 

 cross-fertilized by bees. 6-20 inches high. Beech woods, 

 Maine, south and west to Wisconsin and Missouri. The 



name means on 



ated to contain, 



in so far as east- 



ern United 

 States botany goes, Monotropa hypopitys, the vernacular 

 name for which is Pinesap or False Beech Drops. 



By way of explanation, it may be said that the plant 

 called Beech 

 Drops or Can- 

 cer-Root, b e - 

 longs in the 

 Broom- rape 

 family {0 r o - 

 banchaceae) , in 

 which the One- 

 flowered Can- 

 c e r - root (0. 

 uni flora), de- 

 scribed above, 

 is found. True 

 Beech -drops 

 are not figured 

 in the present 

 article for the 

 reason that, up 

 to date, no 

 specimens have 

 been met with. p. 2— the south view of the mammal house in the national "zoo" with its 



Ac r>r.Tnr.arpH LOW, SQUARE TOWER— THIS BUILDING PRESENTS A MOST ATTRACTIVE PICTURE IN 



/\s c o m parea winter dress. 



the beech." 



R e 1 a ted to 

 these Beech- 

 drops, and in 

 the same 

 Broom- rape 

 family, we 

 have still an- 

 other genus of 

 parasitic plants, 

 also represent- 

 ed by a single 

 species, known 

 as Squaw-root 

 or Cancer-root. 

 This genus is 

 Conopholis, and 

 the plant refer- 

 red to is C. 

 a me ricana; it 



