DISCUSSION OF DEPENDENT PLANTS 381 



(4) Parasites, or plants which live upon other plants 

 (known as host plants) while the latter are still alive. 1 



(5) Carnivorous plants, or those which capture small ani- 

 mals (such as insects) and live at least in part upon them. 



Types of lianas were mentioned in the preceding section. 

 They can get their living without the aid of other plants. The 

 other groups (2~5) are discussed in the following sections. 2 



349. Epiphytes. Unfortunately for the student in temperate 

 climates, flowering epiphytes are mainly confined to the tropics. 





FIG. 307. Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), a symbiotic saprophyte 

 The plants are white from lack of chlorophyll 



The Spanish moss (Figs. 367 and 368) is one of the few excep- 

 tions. A visit to any large greenhouse in which orchids are 

 kept will, however, suffice to give a fair idea of the appearance 

 of some of the most characteristic plants which live perched 

 upon the trunks or branches of trees. Since these plants usu- 

 ally have little or no permanent water supply about their roots, 

 they must be provided with means of absorbing water rapidly 

 during rains, and for resisting drying between one rainfall and 

 the next. The Spanish moss (which is rootless) takes up water 



1 Cases of parasitism of plants upon living animals, although only too 

 common among the lower plants (Sects. 157-160), are unknown among the 

 higher ones. 



2 See Warming, (Ecology of Plants, chap. xxv. 



