GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 213 
which will be treated of in detail in a subsequent part of this book. On old oaks 
in the east of Europe these growths round the bases of Loranthus-plants sometimes 
reach the size of a man’s head. In the case of a bush of Loranthus nearly 100 years 
old, from the Ernstbrunner Wald, in Lower Austria, which had reached a height of 
1-2 m. and a circumference of 5'5 m., the hypertrophy in question measured 70 em. 
round. It is not only the base of a bush that is overgrown by wood-cells, but the 
older portions of the roots described above are frequently walled in and partially 
inclosed by the wood of the branch as it becomes thicker. They may often be 
seen fixed deep in the wood, yet still preserving their freshness and vitality, and 
this is to be explained by the fact that they retain connection with other parts of 
the roots by means of isolated ledges and bridges. Indeed an adventitious shoot 
may develop from a piece of a root thus deeply wedged in the wood of the oak, 
and this shoot then grows so outwards and breaks through all the layers lying above 
it and originates a young bush, which pushes roots under the host’s bark and 
afterwards behaves in exactly the same manner as a plant produced from a seed 
cemented to the oak-branch. 
The Loranthus chosen here for description (L. Europ@us) has only small 
inconspicuous yellowish flowers; on the other hand, under the tropical sun of 
Africa, Asia, and, above all, Central America, the parasitic species of this genus are 
amongst the most splendid-flowered of plants. There are species in the tropics— 
e.g. Loranthus formosus, L. grandiflorus, and L. Mutisii—whose flowers attain a 
diameter of 10, 15, or even 20 centimeters, and are besides clothed in the most 
gorgeous purple and orange colours. Many Loranthi are like small trees grafted 
upon other trees. The host-plants of these Loranthi are principally angiospermous 
trees; members of the genus have also repeatedly been met with parasitic upon one 
another—as, for instance, Loranthus buwifolius upon L. tetrandrus in Chili. The 
fact has been already mentioned that the European Mistletoe has been observed near 
Verona parasitic upon Loranthus. It is also worth noticing, in order to complete 
the account of the complex relationships between parasites, that one species of 
Viscwm has been found in India parasitic upon another, viz.— Viscwm moniliforme 
on V. orientale. 
GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 
Parasitism of one woody plant upon another, such as occurs in the case of 
Loranthacez, calls to mind certain modes of organic union between woody plants 
that are artificially effected by gardeners. From ancient times gardeners have 
performed special operations which are known as processes of “ennobling”, and 
consist in the transference of the branch or bud of one plant on to another plant as 
substratum, and the inducement of organic union between the two. The plant from 
which the branch or bud is taken is perhaps a valuable variety of fruit-tree, or a 
handsome specimen of an ornamental shrub, whilst for the purpose of a substratum 
a robustly-growing individual belonging to a wild species of shrub or tree is selected 
