3i8 GLIMPSES INTO PLANT-LIFE 



orchids ; mosses, lichens, ferns, and many other 

 plants have acquired a similar mode of growth, 

 and the various ways by which they attach them- 

 selves to the bearer j^lants would form an interesting 

 subject of investigation. It is a not uncommon 

 error to regard these perching plants as parasites, 

 but this term is properly used for plants which 

 actually feed upon the branches of the trees 

 where they grow, and of course seriously injure 

 the trees b}' so doing. The orchids, on the other 

 hand, do not in any way injure the branch upon 

 which they rest. Robert Louis Stevenson in one 

 of his later poems has, with a poet's license, which 

 in this case is contrary to fact, described the perching 

 orchid thus — 



" For in the groins of branches, lo ! 

 The cancers of the orchid grow." 



This inaccurate observation is, however, more 

 than atoned for by the wonderful impression 

 Stevenson has given us of the character of wood- 

 land strife, the ceaseless struggle for light and air 

 which goes on in tropical forests. 



In studying the parasites as a group of plants 



