BROOM-RAPES, BALANOPHOREA, RAFFLESIACE. 187 
the capitulum of a composite, by a whorl of imbricating scales, of which the lower 
are shorter and broader, and the upper longer, narrower, and pointed at the apex. 
These scales being stiff, somewhat shiny, and varying in colour from a waxen 
yellow to orange or red—in the case of Langsdorfia Moritziana brown-red,—the 
whole inflorescence has a vivid resemblance to certain immortelles, namely, the 
large species of Helichryswm occurring at the Cape. The inflorescences bearing 
male flowers are elongated and egg-shaped, those possessing only female flowers are 
shorter and capitulate. The seeds dropped from the nut-like fruits, which are 
pulpy internally, have no special integument. The embryo exhibits no trace of 
Fig. 38.—Langsdorfia hypogea, from Central America. 
cotyledons or radicle, but consists of an undifferentiated group of cells which may 
be likened to a tiny bulbil. 
Seeds of this kind germinate like those of Lathrea, and upon meeting with 
the root of a tree or shrub suitable for prey, develop into larger tubercles and have 
a remarkable effect upon the substratum. The cortex of the host-root is destroyed 
at the place of adhesion of the tubercle, and its wood is laid open, lacerated, and 
unravelled. ‘The woody bundles are diverted from their previous direction, ascend 
towards the parasitic tubercle, which meantime has grown into a full-sized tuber, 
and spread out like fans. The cells and vessels of the parasite penetrate between 
the ascending wood-fibres, and this results in the formation of a zone at the place 
of union of the parasite and root, where cells and vessels belonging to both inter- 
lace, traverse, and join one another, coalescing completely in exactly the same way 
as happens in the case of the species of Toothwort. A similar phenomenon occurs 
also when one of the wavy stems of Langsdorfjia comes into contact with a root 
adapted to the purpose. The cortex of the root is demolished at the place of 
