THE DODDER 185 
Clover, etc., do not do much damage; but the same 
cannot be said for the Dodders (Cuscuta), one of 
which is parasitic on Flax, another on Clover, and so 
on. These are little annual plants whose seeds lie 
dormant in the soil throughout the winter and well 
into the spring. Then the young plant, which has 
remained coiled up inside this seed like a spring, 
pushes forth in the form of a tiny thread. While one 
extremity fastens itself to the soil, the other rises up 
into the air, and its point slowly revolves. Should it 
come in contact with a living stem of a suitable plant, 
it attaches itself to it by means of disc-like suckers, 
penetrates the tissues of its victim, draws out nourish- 
ment, and, growing rapidly, spreads from plant to 
plant, taking a couple of close turns round each stem 
after the manner of a lasso, and then sending in 
rootlets from the attaching disc, and sucking the life 
out of each as it goes. It has no roots, no leaves, no 
chlorophyll, being of a red or yellow tint, and is 
entirely dependent for its nourishment on the plants 
which it attacks. In course of time—about August— 
an abundance of pretty little waxy-white flowers are 
produced, which produce the next year’s supply of 
seed. A few seedlings of Dodder, developing under 
suitable conditions, will form a colony which is capable 
in its few months of life of sweeping over a large area, 
wrecking the vegetation on which it has battened. 
A parasite of a quite different sort may be studied 
in the familiar Mistletoe (Viscum album). It is the 
only parasitic native plant which is shrubby, or which 
perches itself on trees (the seeds being spread by 
birds, which devour the white berries). It is not, like 
some parasites, particular as to the species upon which. 
