148 CHAPTER XX. 



usefulness is lost. Cytinus is classed by Hooker with 

 Rafflesia, prince of parasites, a plant of the other 

 hemisphere, whose flower is some three feet in 

 diameter, and weighs as much as fifteen pounds. 



There are many stages and degrees of parasitism. 

 Some plants, like Eyebright (Euphrasia) and Rattle 

 (Rhinanthe), have not quite lost the power of 

 extracting their own carbon from the air. These can 

 exist, though poorly, even if their roots should fail 

 to fasten upon those of some other plant ; for they 

 are provided with leaves. Now, leaves are a sign 

 of vegetable honesty. Orobanche (Broomrape) and 

 Cytinus, with their leaves reduced to scales, rank 

 lower than the semi-parasitic Eyebright and Rattle. 

 Lowest of all is the absolutely leafless Rafflesia. 

 This ponderous flower is a striking instance of 

 that complete success which often attends complete 

 dishonesty. One single leaf, or even one abortive 

 scale, would ruin the Rafflesia ; one solitary scruple 

 would upset the politician or the financier. 



Osyris (Fig. 58), a small shrub, abundant all round 

 Nice, is suspected of partial parasitism. The leaves are 

 narrow, and the little yellow flowers have three petals, 

 with the stamens petal-opposed. Compare the flower 

 with that of Cneorum, and you will find that they 

 are not unlike, though there is no relationship. On 

 the staminate plant the flowers are more numerous 

 than on the pistillate one, for this latter must econo- 

 mize the sap to form its fruits. The same thing is 

 observed in many plants that are dioecious, for instance 

 in the common white Campion (Lychnis dioica). 



Osyris has a little relative, the Thesium, which 

 lies under the same accusation, namely, that of 



