196 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



amalgamate with each, other until the whole tree-trunk is bound with a 

 series of irregular living hoops. 



" The strangler is now ready for its deadly work. The forest giant, 

 like all exogens, must have room to increase in girth, and here he is 

 bound by cords which are stronger than iron bands. Like an athlete 

 he tries to expand and burst his fetters, and if they were rigid he 

 might succeed. But the strangler is like a python, and almost seems as 

 if provided with muscles. The bark between every interlacing bulges out 

 and even tries to overlap, but the monster has taken every precaution 

 against this by making its bands very numerous and wide. We can 

 almost see the struggle, and knowing what will be the result, must pity 

 the victim. 



"As the tree becomes weaker, its leaves begin to fall, and this gives 

 more room for its foe. Soon the strangler expands itself into a great bush, 

 almost as large as the mass of branches and foliage it has effaced. Its 

 glossy leaves shine in the sunlight, and it seems to glory in its work. Every 

 branch is clean and sleek ; not a lichen or fungus can find shelter anywhere. 

 It has got on the shoulders of the forest giant, but does riot intend to 

 support in its turn even the tiniest dwarf. If we could forget its murderous 

 work, how we should admire it ! Take the Clusia insignia, for example. 

 Here we have one of the most beautiful shrubs in the world. Its thick 

 leathery leaves shine as if polished, and its green sleek branches alwaj T s 

 look clean and healthy. As it sits crowing, as it were, over its victim, 

 the contrast between them is most striking. Perhaps the forest giant is 



dying the few leaves 

 remaining are yellow 

 and sickly. No flowers 

 have been produced 

 for two or three seasons, 

 and even the branches 

 look shrivelled. There 

 is not the least hope 

 of recovery ; it only re- 

 mains, therefore, to sub- 

 mit to the inevitable, to 

 die and give place to 

 the strangler." Here 

 again, however, we have 

 no parasitism in the true 

 sense the Clusias are 

 merely climbers ; they 

 strangle, but do not feed 

 upon the trees which 

 support them. 



Photo by] 



FIG. 248. IVY BERRIES (Hedera helix). 



IE. Step. 



The flowers are shown in fig. 244. The flat-topped fruits are greenish -black, 

 one- third of an inch across, and contain from one to five seeds. 



