PARASITES AND EPIPHYTES. S3 



which clothe the plains of the Cape of Good 

 Hope. 



Parasites and Epiphytes. These are very 

 singular plants in their appearance, their 

 structure, and their habits and manner of 

 growth. They obtain their nutriment, nov 

 from the soil, like other plants, but by fixing 

 themselves upon trees or herbaceous plants, 

 whose juices they absorb, and upon which they 

 prey. We have but few of these plants native 

 in our own country, but in foreign countries, in 

 tropical climes, they swarm, especially in the 

 dense forests of equinoctial countries. One of 

 our British parasites, the broom-rape, (Oro- 

 banche major,) fixes itself upon the roots of the 

 broom. Another species, (Orobanche minor,) 

 may not unfrequently be found in clover-fields, 

 growing upon the roots of the red clover. 



A plant, which has of late years proved very 

 obnoxious to farmers in several parts of the 

 country, is a parasite called the clover-dodder, 

 {Cuscuta trifolii.) It generally grows upon the 

 red clover, though occasionally it will attack 

 other plants. Its habit is singular. Its seeds, 

 when ripe, drop into the earth, where, in pro- 

 cess of time, they germinate, and send forth a 

 little snake-like stem, which binds round the 

 first suitable plant it meets with. As the stem 

 lengthens, it puts forth from its sides little 

 conical rootlets or suckers, which penetrate the 

 bark of the plant around which it has twisted, 

 and by these it extracts the sap from its sup- 

 porter. After it has in this manner inserted 



