PLANTS THAT ROB AND MURDER 69 



There is a large group of robber plants that 

 belong to the lowly and humble class ; they grow on 

 the earth and attach their roots to the roots of other 

 plants, who "can afford to be generous . . . and 

 allow a whole world of lesser plants to fatten round 

 their feet." These humble plants have long ago 

 lost all ambition and are satisfied if they can get 

 from their host only enough food on which to live. 

 The broom-rapes exist in this fashion. One species 

 grows freely on tobacco in Kentucky ; another type 

 grows on hemp. 



Still another interesting robber is the corpse 

 plant, or Indian-pipe. It is a fungus-like plant, 

 with a bunch of fibrous roots growing in decayed 

 vegetable matter or old roots of trees. The bunches 

 of ghostly, white stems have each a large white 

 flower, which turns black immediately upon being 

 plucked. These weird flowers are odourless. They 

 were held in great esteem by the Indians, who re- 

 garded each as the symbolic expression of a de- 

 parted friend. 



Then there are the ravaging and ever-increasing 

 parasitical fungi, such as mildews, smuts, rusts, 

 rose-blight, pea-blight, and potato-blight, which 

 thrive largely upon living plants; very rarely, if 

 ever, on the dead. Farmers and florists are ever 

 at war with them; and it is not surprising, for they 



