OTHER METHODS OF OBTAINING FOOD 203 



which eventually burst 

 the cortex above them, 

 and protrude through 

 the host plant. These, 

 in Eafflesia itself, de- 

 velop a single flower 

 which, in some cases, 

 is of enormous size. 

 The plant produces no 

 outgrowths of any 

 kind except the buds 

 described. Other 

 genera show some 

 modification of this 

 structure, but exhibit 

 exactly similar physio- 

 logical peculiarities. 



Certain other para- 

 sites which resemble 

 these in many respects 

 differ in attacking 

 only sub-aerial por- 

 tions of their hosts. 

 The most easily ob- 

 served of these is the 

 Dodder (Cuscuta), 

 which often attacks 

 the cow-wheat or the 

 clover (fig. 101). The 

 seed when germinat- 

 ing puts out an em- 

 bryo which bears .no 

 cotyledons. Germina- 

 tion takes place on the 

 ground, and the em- 

 bryo grows to a length 

 of about an inch. Its 



FIG. 101. PLANT OF Melampyrum (Cow 

 WHEAT) INFESTED WITH Cuscuta, 



