THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



female inflorescences and flowers will be gathered from Fig. n, A,B. 

 Each flower consists of four thick leathery sepals ; there is no 

 corolla. In the male flower there are four stamens, joined to the 

 inner faces of the sepals ; the anthers are peculiar in consisting 

 of numerous rounded pollen sacs. In the centre of the female 

 flower is a greatly modified pistil with an inferior ovary. 



The fruit, developed from the ovary, is an opalescent white 

 berry crowned by the remains of the flower (Fig. n, C). It 

 contains a seed, often with more than one embryo, embedded 

 in a very viscid succulent mass. The fruits are greedily eaten 

 by birds, and the seeds may be deposited in the slimy tenacious 



droppings on the 

 branches of trees. By 

 the running of the 

 fluid excrement the 

 seeds are usually car- 

 ried to the sides of 

 the branch, and may 

 become fixed there. 

 They may also be de- 



A B c posited on the branches 



when the birds are 

 cleaning their bills of 

 the viscid mucilage. 

 On germination an 



attaching disc is formed pressed against the bark, and from the 

 centre of this the first sucker is sent into the rind of the host. 

 The cotyledons, which are already green in the seed, expand, and 

 the further growth of the plant proceeds in successive seasons. 



The Mistletoe, as will be gathered even from the brief de- 

 scription which is all that space permits, is a highly specialised 

 plant in relation to its parasitic mode of life. It is a good example 

 of a partial parasite, of which we have a number in Britain. 

 These, however, are mostly connected with their host plants by 

 suckers formed on the roots in the soil. Such plants as the Eye- 

 bright and the Yellow Rattle agree, however, in their mode of life 

 with the Mistletoe in that, while they have green leaves and are 

 capable of manufacturing food for themselves, they are partially 



FIG. ii. Mistletoe. A, Male inflorescence with open 

 staminate flowers ; B, female inflorescence with 

 pistillate flowers ; C, ripe fruits developed from the 

 female flowers. 



