178 PARASITIC PLANTS. 



living plant, are unable to develop any such absorb- 

 ing organs in the damp earth. 



" If the filiform Cuscuta seedling grasps a support, 

 either while it still possesses its club-shaped lower 

 end, or after this has withered away, it makes two 

 or three turns about its prop, and then raises again 

 its growing apex, which circles around like the hand 

 of a clock. By this movement, which makes the 

 impression on the beholder that the plant is grop- 

 ing for a support, the thread comes in contact with 

 new stalks, branches, and leaf-stems of other plants, 

 seizes them, and makes again two or three close 

 turns about the new support. In this way the 

 growing apex of the young plant dispenses as soon 

 as possible with dead supports, and gives the pref- 

 erence in a remarkable manner to the living por- 

 tions of the plants on which it has fastened. 



" When the Cuscuta has embraced its support, 

 the thread swells somewhat and forms suckers, 

 which are generally near together in a row of 

 three, four, or five (Fig. 43). 



" Such a piece of stem, furnished with suckers, 

 resembles a little worm, which creeps around the 

 supporting stem. At first these suckers are exactly 

 like forming roots and appear smooth on the upper 

 surface, but they soon assume a finely granular 



