DODDER AND BROOMRAPE. 127 



leaves of its own, like the honeysuckle and 

 the clematis, there would be no great harm 

 done : and the dodder would be but another 

 climbing plant the more in our flora. How- 

 ever, it soon insidiously repays the support 

 given it by sending down little bud-like 

 suckers, through which it draws up nourish- 

 ment from the gorse or clover on which it 

 lives. Thus it has no need to develop leaves 

 of its own ; and it accordingly employs all 

 its stolen material in sending forth matted 

 thread-like stems and bunch after bunch of 

 bright flowers. As these increase and mul- 

 tiply, they at last succeed in drawing away 

 all the nutriment from the supporting plant, 

 which finally dies under the constant drain, 

 just as a horse might die under the attacks 

 of a host of leeches. But this matters little 

 to the dodder, which has had time to be 

 visited and fertilised by insects, and to set 

 and ripen its numerous seeds. One species, 

 the greater dodder, is thus parasitic upon 

 hops and nettles ; a second kind twines 



