CLIMBING PLANTS AND PARASITES 



49 



but, by help of the 

 air-roots (fig. 29), 

 it is able to climb 

 as high as a great 

 tree without spend- 

 ing its strength in 

 making a thick 

 stem. Old trees are 

 often smothered 

 with ivy. 



8. And now we 

 come to plants 

 that get food as 

 well as support 

 from other plants, 

 Plantsthatliveon 

 the juices of other 

 plants. Chief 

 ^ among such plants 



IS one that gets up 



Japanese creeper showing air-roots. high in the air not 



by climbing, but by help 

 of the birds. You may see 

 the mistletoe growing on 

 gum trees, sheoaks, wattles, 

 plum trees, oak trees, and 

 even on pepper trees. The 

 mistletoe bird eats the sweet 

 seed of the mistletoe, and 

 then perhaps passes to 

 another branch or to 

 another tree. It is a sticky 

 The suckingro^ow a mistletoe geed, and on passing 



