PARASITICAL PLANTS. 53 



of travels, which I will lend you when you are old 

 enough to understand them : but you will find that 

 I know very little of the subject, indeed almost 

 nothing, in comparison with many other persons, 

 and less than you yourself can easily learn here- 

 after. I hope that if ever you become a good 

 botanist, you will still recollect the lines that you 

 heard sung last night : 



What though I trace each herb and flower 



That drinks the morning dew, 

 Did I not own Jehovah's power, 



How vain were all I knew ! 



But there are some other plants of the fourth 

 class, that I must not forget ; the Pimpernel 

 Chaff-weed, Centun'culus min'imus, the smallest of 

 all the British plants that have distinct flowers, the 

 stem being hardly an inch high ; and some others 

 which are called parasites. 



EDWARD. 

 What does that mean ? 



MOTHER. 



Parasitical plants are those which are produced 



upon the trunks, branches, or any parts of. other 



vegetables; and which, in many instances, will not 



grow in the ground ; as is the case with Miseltoe, 



and some kinds of funguses. The Miseltoe, Vis'cum 



al'bum *, is an evergreen shrub, that grows in great 



* In the twenty-second class, Dicecia, of Linnaeus. 



E 3 



