84 



A TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY [Ch. Ill, 10 



possessing ancestors. Without leaves, there is small need 

 for stems, which accordingly are also much reduced in 

 many of the flowering parasites. An extreme in these 

 respects is reached in that remarkable flowering parasite, 

 the Rafflesia of Java (Fig. 61), where the plant consists 



solely of a single gigantic 

 flower (some three feet 

 across and the largest 

 flower known), which, 

 through a very short 

 stem and some haus- 

 torial roots, is parasitic 

 upon overground roots 

 of trees. 



The Fungi, including 

 the Bacteria, comprise 

 many thousands of 

 species of parasites and 

 saprophytes, which ex- 

 hibit structures having 

 obvious relation to the 

 conditions under which 

 those plants live. Para- 

 sitic Bacteria mostly 



Fig. 59.-The Dodder, CuscutaEuropea; inhabit the tisSUeS <* 



X }. It is here parasitic on Willow, on which living plants Or animals, 



it twines. Note the scale-like minute leaves, r „ m ,,,/u:^v. +U«. T ^U^^^U 



and the flowers in clusters. On the left is a from which they absorb 



section showing the connection of the haus- the nutritive juices di- 



^«£ta£r* VdnS ° f th ° hOSt ' rectly through the walls 



of their very simple 

 bodies. The true Fungi possess no leaves, stems, or roots, 

 but consist ordinarily of two parts, — first, a feeding body 

 called a mycelium (Fig. 62), composed of numerous fine 

 white threads which ramify over and through their hosts, or 

 the decaying materials on which they grow; and second, a 

 sporophore which comes out from the surface, and develops 



