ROSE-COLOURED BALSAM-TREE. 55 



thymum, which grow upon beans, hops, flax, heath, 

 and the nettle ; and often in such profusion as to 

 destroy the plant that supports them. 



There is a genus peculiar to hot climates, the 

 Epiden'drum of Linnaeus, one species of which, 

 called Flos-a'e'ris, or Flower-of-the-Air*, is par- 

 ticularly curious. It is found in abundance in the 

 East Indies, beyond the river Ganges. The smell 

 of the flowers is so delightful, that the inhabitants 

 suspend it from the ceilings of their houses, where 

 it will vegetate for years f ; it is always trained 

 over Bamboo; and grows and even blossoms in the 

 air, without attaching itself to any solid body. 



Mirbel, a French botanist, says, that in North 

 America there are even parasitic trees, growing 

 upon other trees. The long roots of the Clu'sia 

 ro'sea, rose-coloured Balsam-tree, a parasite of this 

 kind, descend from the top of the trees on which 

 they grow, to the ground ; and sometimes several 

 of these roots become engrafted into each other, 

 , and are covered with the same bark, so as to form 

 a great case, in which the trunk of the tree that 

 supports the Clu'sia in the air is enclosed. 



There are parasites also, which grow upon the 

 roots of other plants ; and one of these produces 

 the most extraordinary flower that has ever yet 



* Now called Renan'thera arachni'tis; in the twentieth 

 class, Gynandria, of Linnaeus. 



f Wildenow's " Principles of Botany," p. 263. 

 E 4 



