196 BROOM-RAPES, BALANOPHOREX, RAFFLESIACE2. 
be exceeded in variety, its rachis being pale reddish-violet, the bract-scales 
gamboge, the ovaries yellowish, the styles red, and the stigmas white. It is not 
surprising that even in Brazil, where there is certainly no lack of curious plant- 
forms, they have attracted attention, and that they are used there, as is the case 
with all rare plants, for purposes of healing and magic. The tubers of Lopho- 
phytwm mirabile, which have a disagreeable, bitter, resinous taste, and bear the 
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popular name of “Fel de terra”, or earth-gall, are employed by quacks against 
jaundice, and a belief also prevails that by secretly eating the blossoms youths are 
enabled to win the affection of the maidens they admire. The same may be said 
of Lophophytum Leandri, and, in addition, there is a tradition that the eating of 
it brings luck and agility in hunting, fishing, fighting, and dancing, and for this 
reason the Indian youth collect the plants secretly and eat them on particular days. 
Of the other parasitic Balanophorez most nearly allied to Lophophytum we will 
here only mention in passing the species of Ombrophytuwm, known in Peru by the 
name of “Mays del monte”, which has a yellowish inflorescence over 30 em. high, 
and from 6 to 7 cm thick, somewhat resembling a spike of maize, and lastly, the 
Lathrophytum Peckoltia of Brazil, to which a special interest attaches inasmuch 
as it is the sole instance of a flowering plant entirely destitute of all structures of 
the nature of leaves, with the exception of the stamens and ovaries. Langsdorffia, 
Seybaliwm, Lophophytum, and even Balanophora, Helosis, and Rhopaloenemis 
exhibit scales, which, though transformed in various ways, are yet always in point 
of position and form recognizable as leaves; but neither on the tuber, shaft, nor 
spadix of this Lathrophytwm is any trace of a scale to be seen, nor even a swelling 
or rim that might be looked upon as a degenerate leaf. 
In comparison with equatorial America with its wealth of parasitic Balano- 
phoreze the corresponding zone of Africa must be called poor so far as these plants 
are concerned. Possibly further explorations may bring to light a few more of 
these wonderful vegetable parasites, but it is hardly to be expected that such a 
variety as is presented in Brazil, the Peruvian Andes, New Granada, and Bolivia 
will be found Only three Balanophorez have been discovered in the Cape regions, 
where the flora is well known. One of these, which is represented on the right- 
hand side of fig. 41, bears the name of Sarcophyte sanguinea (i.e. blood-red flesh- 
plant), whilst the name of Icthyosoma (ve. fish-carcase) has also been applied to it 
because it smells of rotten fish. These names imply that the plant resembles an 
animal rather than a vegetable organism. The host-plants adapted to this 
Sarcophyte are various Mimosez, especially Acacia caffra, Acacia capensis, &e. 
In the first place, as is the case with all Balanophorez, small tubers are formed on 
the roots of the above-mentioned woody hosts, and enter into connection with the 
wood of the nutrient roots in the manner already described more than once. An 
inflorescence then emerges from a bud originating beneath the cortex of the tuber, 
and rapidly grows up from out of the cortex, which is rent and pushed up in the 
process. The axis of this inflorescence resolves itself into a number of thick, 
repeatedly ramifying, fleshy branches, differing in this respect from every other 
