926 CXIII. LORANTHACE^. 



long; and again several low shrubs of the intensely glaucous Tamarix 

 orientalis Forsk. had nearly all its principal branches decked with 

 dense patches of the splendid yellow flowers of another Loranthus. 

 The majority of the species in Angola have brilliant pink or 

 scarlet flowers, but several have them golden or orange-coloured, 

 and nearly all produce a profusion of flowers. The principal 

 flowering season coincides in Angola with the spring, that is, from 

 September till November, but many of the finest species continue 

 their blooming almost throughout the summer, when they may 

 be seen not uncommonly covered with ripe fruits at the base, 

 while they are still in full flower at the top of the same branch. 

 The yellow-flowered kinds, however, seem to begin their season 

 much later, for several golden-blooming species open their flower 

 in June and July, which in Angola is the very middle of the dry 

 and cool winter. All the species have fleshy and rather broad 

 leaves and vary considerably in colour, being in some species dark 

 shining green, in others glaucous-green, and in a few species they 

 are covered with a grey tomentum. Although some evince a 

 decided preference for particular species of trees, not rarely the 

 same species of Loranthus is found growing on trees belonging to 

 quite different species or genera or even orders of plants ; the 

 pendulous Loranthus, however, was observed exclusively on a 

 Ficus, while the Viscum affected only the arborescent Composite 

 Tarchonanthus camploratus L. 



The forest trees most frequently inhabited by Loranthacese are 

 Adansonia digitata B. Juss., several of the larger trees of the 

 orders Leguminosse, Combretacese, Sterculiacese, and Sapindacese, as 

 well as many of the various fig trees, while in the southern parts 

 of Benguella and near Cabo Negro many beautiful species of 

 Loranthus may be observed on Tamaricc orientalis Forsk. ; on the 

 other hand a Loranthaceous parasite was never seen on trees 

 belonging to the orders Anonacese, Hypericacese, Kutacese, or 

 Euphorbiacese, although each of these orders is rather copiously 

 represented by large and mostly evergreen trees in the forests of 

 the Angolan highlands. Scarlet -flowered species of Loranthus 

 were frequently seen to infest introduced trees, such as the 

 Orange, Lemon, and Ficus Carica L., and it seems that these 

 curious parasites emigrate with a kind of predilection from their 

 original habitations to neighbouring fruit trees ; on one occasion 

 a whole orchard of orange trees was invaded with a bloodred- 

 flowering Loranthus, and in another instance most of the trees 

 in a fig-plantation were covered with a grey-leaved and yellow- 

 flowering species ; it seems also that the nature of the sap of 

 the foster tree exercises little influence upon the vegetation of 

 Loranthacese, for in several cases the same species grew with equal 

 vigour on Adansonia which has a watery juice as on fig-trees of 

 which the sap is milky and glutinous. This fact suggests the 

 possibility and even the facility of introducing these pretty 

 parasites into European gardens and conservatories, where they 

 would furnish with their graceful forms a pleasing variety and 



