16 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



albumen ; small dichotomons shrubs, nearly always parasitic ; 

 leaves opposite, entire ; flowers sometimes dioecious. 



Members of this natural family chiefly inhabit the intertropical 

 regions. Their bark contains adhesive material, like birdlime, 

 intermediate in its general nature between wax and caoutchouc. 



The mistletoe (Viscum album, Fig. 266) ia the only species 

 which represents the family in our land. 

 It is a dioecious plant, with thick fleshy 

 leaves, greenish flowers scarcely apparent, 

 and sessile. The mistletoe was much re- 

 verenced by the ancient Druids, who attri- 

 buted to it various mysterious properties. 

 Even at this day the inhabitants of Javaen- 

 tertain a superstitious respect for ihcFicus 

 religiosa, upon which an individual of the 

 natural family LoranthacecB grows. They 



imbricate ; flowers complete, or polygamous, or dioecious ; 

 embryo minute and homogeneous. 



The most remarkable species of this class is the Rafflesia 

 Arnoldi (Fig. 267), a native of Sumatra, where it grows on the 

 trunk of a Cissus, and consists of a single fiower no less than 

 nine feet in circumference. Its nectary has a capacity of twelve 

 pints, and its weight is not less than fifteen 

 pounds. Before its expansion the floral 

 bud appears like a great cabbage ; the 

 bracts soon expand, and the perianth be- 

 comes developed. Its fleshy colour and 

 cadaverous odour attract flies and other 

 insects, which are necessary to the procesa 

 of its fecundation. This curious member 

 of the vegetable world has been described 

 at length in Vol. I., page 185. 



265. EDGEWORTHIA CHRYSAK- 

 THA. 266. THE MISTLE- 

 TOE (VISCUM ALBUM). 



267. RAFFLESIA AR- 

 NOLDI. 



believe that the shades of 

 their ancestors wander 

 under the vaulted canopy 

 formed by these curious 

 trees, and are gladdened 

 by a view of the para- 

 sites. 



SECT. CVIII. HYDNOEA- 

 CE.S:, EAFFLESIACE^!, 

 CYTINACE-E, APODAN- 

 THACE^E, AND BALA- 

 NOPHOBACE.E. 



These five natural orders constitute a group cf plants which 

 have been collectively termed Rhizogens or Rhizanthese, from 

 some Greek words which mean " flower-producing roots." They 

 are supposed by some botanists to constitute an intermediate 

 class between the Phanerogamia and the Cryptogamia. The 

 following are their leading characteristics : Plants composed 

 of cellular tissue, pervaded by a few vessels; parasites upon 

 the roots cr stems of other plants ; leaves reduced to mere 

 scales, never green 3 deprived of stomata and vessels, generally 



268. RAFFLES'S PITCHER-PLANT 



(NEPENTWES RAFFLE- 

 SIANA). 1, THE LEAF ; 



2, THE MALE FLOWER; 



3, THE FRUIT. 



SECT. CIX.-NEPENTHA- 



, OK NEPENTHES. 

 Characteristics : Sub-lig- 

 neous plants of tropical .asia 

 and Madagascar ; flowers 

 in racemes, dioecious ; pe- 

 rianth herbaceous, four- 

 partite ; stamens sixteen, 

 coherent in a central co- 

 lumn ; ovary free, four- 

 celled ; capsule loculicidal. 

 The Nepenthes, type of this 

 family, possesses alternate 

 leaves, the petiole contracted atits base,butfurther on expanding 

 into a flat limb, but its mid-rib is prolonged, and bears a new fo- 

 liaceous expansion like a pitcher in form, supplied with a cover 

 attached by a kind of hinge, on which it opens and shuts. The 

 pitcher closed at night is open during the day, and secretes in 

 its interior a fluid, insipid in some species, slightly saccharine 

 in others. The largest and finest species was discovered about 

 thirty years ago at Singapore by Sir Stamford RafHes, and has 

 received the name of Nepenthes Rajjlesiana (Fig. 268). 



