2 8o PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 



place taken by yellowish bracts. Stem : copper yellow ; twisting and twining 

 like a bunch of tangled wire ; parasitic. 



We may well inquire into the ways of this little parasite, 

 which, although its victims are of a different class, is quite as 

 uncanny as the insectivorous plants. Its coiled seed drops 

 intc the ground, germinates, and sends up a yellow stem, which, 

 when it has hardly reached two inches high, begins to stretch 

 out for some shrub or plant about which to entwine itself. 

 It then puts out suckers which penetrate the bark and drain 

 the already assimilated sap of the plant. The original ground 

 stem withers and falls away. The dodder is therefore left 

 wholly dependent for nourishment upon its victim. Its persist- 

 ent, close growth about the bark of a shrub inflicts great dam- 

 age. 



The tangled gold threads are interesting when we come 

 upon them ; but once the habits of the plant are known it 

 cannot but inspire us with a feeling of repulsion. 



COnnON MILKWEED. SILKWEED. (Plate CXLIV.) 

 Asclcpias Syriaca. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Milkweed. Purplish pink. Scentless. Mostly northward. June -August. 



Flower-clusters : often four and a half inches in diameter.- Construction, see 

 A. incarnata, page 76. Pods : two only, which burst open and let fly seeds 

 with beautiful, silky tufts. Leaves: very large; six to eight inches long; 

 opposite, or scattered ; oblong ; pubescent underneath ; glabrous on the upper 

 surface. Stem : tall ; coarse ; with a milky juice ; pubescent. 



One of the greatest charms of the wild flowers is that they 

 never have to be bought. The beggar can enjoy the world 

 flushed with myriad, evanescent hues that blend into each other 

 like the delicate splendour of a bird's plumage quite as well as 

 can a monarch on his throne. The only requisite is to have 

 the discriminating eyes that see : see as do the artists. 



Barefooted urchins think, undoubtedly, that the common 

 milkweed blows for them, and the pompons they make from its 

 seed pods for their torn straw hats become them extremely 

 well. They slumber sweetly upon the pillows and mattresses 



