Def^ciident Plants 



99 



They send out root-like bodies which penetrate their host (as 

 the plant is called which supplies another with food) and 

 appropriate all the food the}' require. 



Mistletoe and its relative Lora)itlms penetrate their host in 

 a similar manner. They cannot obtain food from the soil of 

 themselves, but there is chlorophyll in their stems and leaves 

 so that they can manufacture the food from the raw material 



// 





Fig. 82. — Cnscuta Trifolii : .A, parasitic upon 

 clover (reduced) ; B, a separate inflorescence 

 (natural size). (Krom Thome and Bennett's 

 " Structural and Physiological Botan\' '*.) 



Fig. 83. — Cassy/ha, twin- 

 ing and parasitic flower- 

 ing shoot. (From Hen- 

 slow's ".South .African 

 Flowering Plants".) 



they obtain from the host and the carbon dio.xide which they 

 can take from the air. These are called partial parasites. 

 Those which derive all their nourishment from their host are 

 called total parasites. 



Some plants which come up from the ground are parasitic 

 on the roots of other plants. The beauliful pink-and-white 

 and crimson Harveya, the flaming Hyobaitche, and Sarcophyte, 

 and curious Hydnora are root parasites. The leaves are re- 

 duced to mere scales. 



