Dependent Plants 



99 



They send out root-like bodies which penetrate their host (as 

 the plant is called which supplies another with food) and 

 appropriate all the food they require. 



Mistletoe and its relative Loranthus penetrate their host in 

 a similar manner. They cannot obtain food from the soil of 

 themselves, but there is chlorophyll in their stems and leaves 

 so that they can manufacture the food from the raw material 



Fig. 82.^ — Cuscuta Trifolii : A, parasitic upon 

 clover (reduced) ; B, a separate inflorescence 

 (natural size). (From Thom6 and Bennett's 

 " Structural and Physiological Botany ".) 



Fig. S^.—Cassy^/ia, twin- 

 ing and parasitic flower- 

 ing shoot. (From Hen- 

 slow's "South African 

 Flowering Plants ". ) 



they obtain from the host and the carbon dioxide which they 

 can take from the air. These are called partial parasites. 

 Those which derive all their nourishment from their host are 

 called total parasites. 



Some plants which come up from the ground are parasitic 

 on the roots of other plants. The beautiful pink-and-white 

 and crimson Harveya, the flaming Hyobaiiche^ and Sarcophyte^ 

 and curious Hydnora are root parasites. The leaves are re- 

 duced to mere scales. 



7* 



