Dependent Plants 



71 



of themselves, but there is chlorophyll in their stems and leaves 

 so that they can manufacture the food for themselves from the 

 material they obtain from their host and the carbon dioxide 

 they can take in from the air. 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 

 Hyobanche and Sarcophyfe, and curious Hydnora are root 

 parasites. The leaves are reduced to mere scales, since they 



Fig. 72. — Cuscuta Trifolii: A, paiasitic upon 

 clover (reduced) ; B, a separate inflorescence 

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

 " Structural and Physiological Botany.") 



Fig. 73. — Cassytha, 

 twining and parasi- 

 tic flowering shoot. 

 (From Henslow's 

 " South African 

 Flowering Plants.") 



are no longer required to manufacture food, and they contain 

 little or no chlorophyll. 



A saprophyte is a plant which lives on dead or decaying 

 matter. Mushrooms, the mould on bread and cheese, and 

 bacteria are examples. Saprophytes are very useful members 

 of plant society. Mushrooms change decaying vegetable matter 

 into wholesome food. When insects or animals die, or leaves 

 fall, there would be a great accumulation of useless matter were 



