GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 213 



which will be treated of in detail in a subsequent part of this book. On old oaks 

 in the east of Europe these growths round the bases of Loranthus-plants sometimes 

 reach the size of a man's head. In the case of a bush of Loranthus nearly 100 years 

 old, from the Ernstbrunner Wald, in Lower Austria, which had reached a height of 

 1-2 m. and a circumference of 55 m., the hypertrophy in question measured 70 cm. 

 round. It is not only the base of a bush that is overgrown by wood-cells, but the 

 older portions of the roots described above are frequently walled in and partially 

 inclosed by the wood of the branch as it becomes thicker. They may often be 

 seen fixed deep in the wood, yet still preserving their freshness and vitality, and 

 this is to be explained by the fact that they retain connection with other parts of 

 the roots by means of isolated ledges and bridges. Indeed an adventitious shoot 

 may develop from a piece of a root thus deeply wedged in the wood of the oak, 

 and this shoot then grows so outwards and breaks through all the layers lying above 

 it and originates a young bush, which pushes roots under the host's bark and 

 afterwards behaves in exactly the same manner as a plant produced from a seed 

 cemented to the oak-branch. 



The Loranthus chosen here for description (L. Europozus) has only small 

 inconspicuous yellowish flowers; on the other hand, under the tropical sun of 

 Africa, Asia, and, above all, Central America, the parasitic species of this genus are 

 amongst the most splendid-flowered of plants. There are species in the tropics — 

 e.g. Loranthus formosus, L. grandijlorus, and L. Mwtisii — whose flowers attain a 

 diameter of 10, 15, or even 20 centimeters, and are besides clothed in the must 

 gorgeous purple and orange colours. Many Loranthi are like small trees grafted 

 upon other trees. The host-plants of these Loranthi are principally angiospermous 

 trees; members of the genus have also repeatedly been met with parasitic upon one 

 another — as, for instance, Loranthus buxifolius upon L. tetrandrus in Chili. The 

 fact has been already mentioned that the European Mistletoe has been observed near 

 Verona parasitic upon Loranthus. It is also worth noticing, in order to complete 

 the account of the complex relationships between parasites, that one species of 

 Viscwm has been found in India parasitic upon another, viz.: — Viscum moniliforme 

 on V. orientale. 



GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 



Parasitism of one woody plant upon another, such as occurs in the case of 

 Loranthaceae, calls to mind certain modes of organic union between woody jslants 

 that are artificially effected by gardeners. From ancient times gardeners have 

 performed special operations which are known as processes of "ennobling", and 

 consist in the transference of the branch or bud of one plant on to another plant as 

 substratum, and the inducement of organic union between the two. The plant from 

 which the branch or bud is taken is perhaps a valuable variety of fruit-tree, or a 

 handsome specimen of an ornamental shrub, whilst for the purpose of a substratum 

 a robustly-growing individual belonging to a wild species of shrub or tree is selected 



