246 



SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



Fig. 86. — The Dodder {Cnsctita cpithyimini). 



are very particular as to the kind of plants they 

 attack. They can only subsist, in fact, upon the 

 sap of certain species, and this, therefore, restricts 

 their parasitism ; and consequently the most abundant 



and widely dis- 

 persed of them 

 is CiLsciUa Eu- 

 ropcea^ which is 

 least particular, 

 and attacks 

 Thistles, Oats, 

 and, in short, 

 any plants that 

 are crowded to- 

 gether. Clover and Gorse are those most preferred 

 by other species ; and one, CiLscuta Trifolii, confines 

 itself almost entirely to Cloverfields ; and another, 

 Cusciita Epiliniim^ to Flaxfields. It is more than 

 probable, however, that all these so-called species 

 have been differentiated within very recent times ; 

 and certainly their specific distinctions are of a very 

 slender kind. 



When the seeds of the Dodder drop into the soil 

 they soon germinate, and the little delicate thread- 

 like embryo plant makes its appear-ance above 

 ground, bearing its seed-covering like a protective 

 cap at its apex. It then looks or feels about for its 

 victim, and dies down in a few days if it cannot find 

 one. The seeds have no cotyledons, like those 



