400 Boewig on the Histology and 
The plant may be said to consist only of stem and 
branches, the leaves being scale-like and tiny. It forms an 
abundant cordage around the stems and leaves of the host 
plant. Very frequently the shoots coil tightly about each 
other, forming ropes and mattings, and then frequently 
parasitizing on each other. The internodes are long, but 
the stems branch freely. Connection with the ground is 
lost. The tangled mass is dotted over with short, thick 
spikes of flowers, the spikes being half an inch to an inch 
long, and the greenish white, sessile flowers three to four 
mm. across. 
An exceptional feature of Cassytha is its apparently indis- 
criminate selection of hosts. Inthe Palm Beach and Miami 
neighborhood a great variety of plants were penetrated by it 
and more or less injured. It attacks most commonly and 
extensively the water oak (Quercus aquatica) and the ever- 
green oak (Q. virens), both of which become at times com- 
pletely and closely wreathed over to a height of six to ten 
feet, young plants being partially or entirely destroyed. The 
plant is most abundantly encountered over tracks of sandy 
soil where scrub vegetation is fairly abundant. It may be 
said to occur almost continuously over the southernmost 
portion—130 to 140 miles—of Florida. In some localities 
it is somewhat local and irregularly distributed, as in the 
neighborhood of Miami. In other localities, as round Palm 
Beach, Neptune and St. Lucia, the plant is extremely abun- 
dant, though so far as observed it does not seem as yet to 
have become a troublesome infesting parasite to cultivated 
plants. A partial list of its hosts is given: 
Pteris aquilina. Ceratiola ericoides. 
Zamia integrifolia. Litzia Caroliniana. 
Pinus (several species). Polygonella. 
Carex (near triangularis). Cassia sps. 
Smilax Walterii. Bumelia argentea. 
Blue Palmetto. Yellow Coriopsis. 
Two species of Quercus. 
