154 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



but should it succeed in finding one, it surrounds the stem, and from the 

 points of contact proceed suckers which contain conducting tissue, and this 

 tissue attaches itself to the conducting tissue of the host, and sucks the 

 juices which the host has elaborated. Then the root of the Dodder becomes 

 obliterated, and dies, and henceforth the plant lives by its suckers alone. 

 'Whilst it was not a parasite," says the eminent French botanist, De 

 Candolle, " it rose vertically ; as soon as it became one, it was no longer 

 tempted to direct itself either vertically or towards the light. Its shoots 

 dart from one plant to another, and thus are conveyed to new victims 

 when the old ones are exhausted. Often the seeds germinate before they 



FIG. 191. Rafflesia arnoldi. 



Except for its hidden roots which permeate its victim, there is nothing but this enormous flower three feet across, 

 and the largest blossom known. It is found in the forests of SUMATRA. 



quit the capsules, and the new plant immediately becomes a parasite ; 

 this is particularly observed in the Cuscutci monogyna, which attacks the 

 Vines in Languedoc." * 



Fig. 189 shows the Greater Dodder (C. europcea), which Gerarde describes 

 as " a strange herbe, altogether without leaves or roote, like unto threds, 

 very much snarled or wrapped together confusedly, winding itselfe about 

 bushes and hedges, and sundrie kindes of herbes." This species is very 

 partial to the Hop-plant (Hnmulus). Other species attack the Flax-plant 

 (Linum usitatissimuni), Clover (Trifclium), Thyme (Thymus), and Furze or 

 Gorse (Ulex europceus). 



* Cyclopaedia of Natural Histoi'y, vol. ii. p. 262. 



