432 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



A curious parasitical plant may frequently be 

 observed growing upon the furze, nettle, or clover, 

 twisted round their stems and attached thereto 

 by small suckers, which, as it were, drain the 

 very life out of the plants to which they thus 

 affix themselves. This is the dodder, a leafless, 

 crawling, serpent-like little parasite, yet tremb- 

 ling with every breath of wind. It is of 

 the genus botanically known as Cuscuta, one 

 species of which is not inaptly designated ' hell- 

 weed.' Like the majority of plants, especially 

 those which are remarkable for some special 

 peculiarity, it was not without its supposed value 

 as a herbal medicine in times past, being used as 

 a remedy for swoonings and fainting-fits. It is 

 so small and delicate- looking a plant as to readily 

 escape observation. When the suckers have fully 

 established themselves, the parent stem dies away, 

 the plant deriving its sustenance entirely from 

 that to which it may have elected to attach 

 itself. 



The broad-leaved dock is among the com- 

 monest of our field and hedgerow plants. There 

 are some dozen different species of the dock in 

 Britain, including the various kinds of sorrel, all 

 of which belong to the genus Rumex. The 

 broad-leaved varieties are termed docks, and the 

 small-leaved sorrels. The common or broad- 

 leaved dock to which I refer is well known as a 

 remedy for the sting of the nettle. Propagating 

 itself by means of its seeds, which are widely 



