Santalaoeae. 



43 



^ 



BUCKLEYA. 



(Family Santalaoeae). 



Shrubs, parasitic on Tsuga: 

 deciduous. Twigs slender, fork- 

 ing, terete or obscurely 6-sided: 

 pith rather small, somewhat angu- 

 lar, continuous, white. Buds soli- 

 tary, moderate, sessile, oblong, ap- 

 pressed, with some 3 pairs of 

 acute loose scales, the end-bud 

 lacking. Leaf-scars opposite but 

 by torsion standing nearly in 2- 

 ranks instead of decussately in 4 

 ranks, small, half-round or broadly 

 crescent-shaped, slightly raised: 

 bundle-trace 1: stipule-scars lack- 

 ing. 



Buckleya affords one of the com- 

 paratively few illustrations of 

 successful garden cultivation of a 

 parasitic plant of large size. Like 

 its close relative Comandra, 

 though possessing foliage abund- 

 antly supplied with the mechanism for manufacturing carbo- 

 hydrates through photosynthesis, as green plants ordinarily 

 do, Buckleya appears to be incapable of existing without de- 

 riving mineral nutrients and perhaps some proteins from 

 other plants. In this respect it is partially comparable with 

 the mistletoes belonging to the closely related family Loran- 

 thaceae, and other green parasites. It has long been grown 

 successfully in the botanical garden of Harvard University 

 under an old hemlock, to the roots of which it had attached 

 Itself. 

 Puberulent: buds straw-colored, glabrous. B. distichophylla. 



