72 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



it not for the saprophytes, which seize upon this decaying matter 

 and change it into the soil and gases, and so make it ready to 



be used by hving plants again. So 

 the large trees and beautiful flower- 

 ing plants are quite as dependent 

 upon saprophytes as the parasites 

 and saprophytes are upon green 

 plants. 



In roots of legumes or the pea 

 family very small bodies are found 

 which cause small swellings on the 



Fig. 74. — A piece of a branch of an 

 apple tree cut through lengthwise, 

 into which a young mistletoe-plant 

 has driven its sucking roots (re- 

 duced). (P'rom Thome and Ben- 

 nett's " Structural and Physiological 

 Botany.") 



I. II. 



F'iG. 75. — Sarcophyte sangtiinea spamii, a parasite growing on the roots of Ehebergia 

 and Acacia in the Eastern Province. I. Pistillate. II. Staminate flower. 



roots. They are plants which obtain nourishment from their 

 host, but they enable the host to use the free nitrogen which 



