I02 Chapters in Modern Botany chap. 



three hundred species of mistleto-like plants included in 

 the order Loranthaceae, while the genus Henslowia — plants 

 of similar habit found in Southern Asia and in the Indian 

 Archipelago — belongs to the order Santalacese. 



It is interesting to notice that some of these mistleto-like 

 plants are sometimes parasitic on one another. Thus our 

 mistleto may grow on Loranthiis eiiropcetis^ or one species 

 of Viscum or of Loranthus may grow on another ; indeed 

 the common mistleto has been noticed — as is natural and 

 perhaps common enough — thus sprouting upon itself. 



Dodder. — The dodders iCiiscuta) are parasites on such 

 plants as clover, flax, nettles, and hops. It is on the two 

 last that the commonest European species {C. europcEo) 

 is usually found. In many ways it differs from the mistleto ; 

 thus the seed almost always germinates on the ground, and 

 the adult plant is practically destitute of chlorophyll and 

 leaves. 



Let us follow the life-history of the common dodder. 

 Like most of the other species, it is an annual, dying away 

 in autumn. Before that, however, the seeds have burst 

 explosively from the seed-boxes, and have been swept hither 

 and thither by the wind. All through the winter they lie 

 dormant on the ground, sheltered in many cases by decay- 

 ing leaves, which supply a suitable bed for germination. 

 This does not take place till comparatively late in the 

 following year, not before the nettles and hops have acquired 

 some s^trength of stem, — a delay which is obviously of 

 advantage to the dodder. 



Out of the seed there comes a Httle club-shaped root 

 which seeks the soil, but the young stem remains surrounded 

 by the seed-husks and the store of nutriment which these 

 enclose. It grows — thin as a thread, and somewhat spirally 

 — at the expense of the seed-store. This is soon exhausted 

 and growth practically stops, but the thin stem still circum- 



