EPIPHTTES, PABASITES AND SAPBOPHTTES 409 



site or saprophyte. It is probable that it is 

 both, deriving some of its nourishment from the 

 roots of living trees, and 

 also some of it from 

 the decaying leaf- mold. 

 There are several leaf- 

 less and non-chlorophyl- 

 lous plants growing upon \\, 

 the ground in woods in ^ 

 this country, living much \\ 

 as the Indian pipe does. 

 Some of them are or- 

 chids; others are known 

 as beech -drops, because 

 occurring in beech woods ; 

 another is the remark- 

 able snow -plant or sar- 

 codes of the Sierras. 

 There are, also, quite a 

 number of green and 

 leafy herbs which are 

 partially parasitic upon 

 roots, and which the 

 uninformed observer 



would never suspect of such habits. 



517, The lichen, or "moss," which grows upon 

 trees derives its nourishment from the air and 

 rain, and possibly somewhat from the decaying 



Fig. 429. 

 The Indian pipe. 



