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British Phanerogamic Parasitic Plants. 
By J. E. Nowers. 
READ BEFORE THE NATURAL HISTORY AND GEOLOGICAL SECTION, 
DECEMBER Ist, 1905. 
HE British flowering Parasites are to be found in 5 orders, 10 
genera, and number about 30 species. Of this number 5 
genera, containing 12 species, are only partial parasites ; 
growing in the earth and producing green leaves, they are parasitic 
by the way, attaching themselves to other plants by some of their 
root fibres. Probably the best known of our flowering parasites 
is the Mistletoe (Viscum aLBum). It belongs to the order Loranth- 
acee; of which it is the only British representative, out of about 
450 known species. The leaves are mostly in pairs, but sometimes 
in threes ; the flowers are in threes and inconspicuous, green with 
two bracts. They are borne in the forks of the branches. It flowers 
early in the spring, and is diccious; the male flower has a slight 
scent; this probably attracts bees who, no doubt, carry the pollen to 
the female plant, and thus it gets fertilized. The white viscid berries, 
containing one flat seed, are ripe in November and December. ‘They 
are distributed by birds, particularly by thrushes and missel- 
thrushes. There is a difference of opinion as to the mode of dis- 
tribution by birds; some authors say that they rub their beaks 
against the branches to get rid of the viscid portion of the berry, 
and thus leave some seeds on the branch. I was informed at Range- 
more Gardens that thrushes have been watched taking Mistletoe 
