EPIPHYTES AND PARASITES 



These are the inflorescence of such parasites. Their roots are incor- 

 porated, by overgrowth and interpenetration, with the roots of the 

 trees which are forced to nourish them. The popular name for this 

 singular, fungus-like plant is Espigo de sangue— the "Blood-spike." 



It is not to the advantage of a parasite to jeopardize the victim 

 of its exploitation, for with the death of the host the fate of the 

 parasite would be sealed — at all events, unless the latter had the 

 power of transferring itself to another host. But there is one family 

 of plants in the tropics which lives by killing. They do not suck 

 their victim's life-blood, and it is no part of their intention to kill it, 

 but they grow so inconsiderately that the supporting tree is simply 

 stifled. Juristically speaking they are guilty of killing, not of murder. 



And yet one is inclined to approve of the terrible names which 

 have been given to these parasites — Matapau, "Murderer Fig," or 

 "Tree-strangler" — when one sees such a plant before one's eyes, 

 and notes how it encloses the supporting tree in a constricting net- 

 work, so that one really feels as though the victim is at the last 

 gasp; indeed, one almost expects to hear its death-rattle. And 

 presently one comes upon a tree which has already died in the 

 embrace of its executioner. The lower part of the trunk is still 

 standing, but the upper portion, strangled and half decayed, is still 

 suspended in the trellis, a corpse in the arms of the strangler. 



The "Tree-strangler" belongs to the family of the tropical figs, 

 and is found in the Old World as well as in the New. A bird eats 

 one of its figs, and deposits the seed, which passes through its 

 intestine, on the branch of a tree. The excrement holds it in place, 

 and also provides manure, and presently a little shoot springs up, 

 and the fig begins its career as an epiphyte. As soon as it has grown 

 to a certain size it puts forth aerial roots, and other roots grow down 

 along the fissures of the supporting tree, until at last they reach the 

 ground. Now the epiphyte has become a liana (Plate 19), and can 

 obtain all the nourishment it needs from the soil, and it grows 

 bigger and bigger, until, in order to support its increasing weight, 

 it puts forth lateral roots from the descending roots, which become 

 so many stems. These lateral roots clasp the supporting tree like 

 embracing arms, meet together on the further side, interlace, and 

 coalesce, until the whole tree is wrapped, as it were, in a wire net- 

 work, which is so tough and rigid that the tree can no longer increase 

 in girth. This means its death ; it is strangled at its most vulnerable 



III 



