MORPHOLOGY 



that is, grow and live on decaying animal or vegetable 

 matter and get their food therefrom; or symbiotic, 

 that is, grow in concert with other plants, and live a 

 life of mutual help; or, lastly, insectivorous, that 



is, live mostly on insects. 



Of aquatic plants some 

 float on the surface, as 

 pana {Pistia) (fig. 3), or re- 

 main submerged, as ganj 

 or jhangi {Chard), commori 

 jhangi {Utricularid) (see 

 fig. 66), without being at- 

 tached to any substratum ; 

 others have their roots, or 

 roots and root-stocks, fixed 

 to the mud and their stems 

 or leaves, or both, floating 

 on or sticking out of the 

 water, as padma {Nelum- 

 bium), shalook or shafla 

 {NymphcBo). 



Most of the plants be- 

 longing to the Orchid 

 family are epiphytes, as 

 rasna {Vanda Roxburghii) 

 (see fig. 265), a small herb 

 often found attached by 

 roots to the branches of 

 Mango and other trees. 

 Many bot or Banyan trees 

 and aswathwa or Peepul trees germinate on tal or 

 Palmyra-palms, khejur or Date-palms, and other 

 trees, and remain epiphytic for years, until their 

 roots, which creep on the surface of the prop-trees 

 Strike the ground and make them terrestrial or land- 



FJg"' 3- — Pana {Pistia Sh'aiiotes) 

 showing root-caps (a) and root-hairs (A) 



