DISCUSSION OF DEPENDENT PLANTS 381 



(4) Parasites, or plants which h\-e upon other plants 

 (known as host plants) while the latter are still alive.i 



(5) Carnivorous plants, or those which capture small ani- 

 mals (such as insects) and live at least in part upon them. 



Types of lianas were mentioned in the preceding section. 

 The)- can get their IWmg without the aid of other plants. The 

 other groups (2-5) are discussed in the following sections.^ 



349. Epiphytes. Unfortunately for the student in temperate 

 climates, fliowermg epiphytes are mainly confined to the tropics. 



Fig. 307. Indian pipe (Monolropa unijlora), a .symbiotic sapropliyte 

 Tlie plants are white from lack of chlorophyll 



The Spanish moss (Figs. o(i7 and 361^) is one of the few excep- 

 tions. A A'isit to any large greenhouse in \\hich orchids are 

 kept will, ho^\•e^'er, suffice to gi^e a fair idea of the appearance 

 of some of the most characteristic plants ^^•hich live perched 

 upon the trunks or branches of trees. Since these plants usu- 

 ally have little or no permanent -water supply about their roots, 

 thev must be presided with means of absorbmg water rapidly 

 durmg rains, and for resisting drying between one ramfall and 

 the next. The Spanish moss (which is rootless) takes up water 



i Cases of parasitism of plants upon living animals, although only too 

 common among the lower plants (Sects. 1-57-160), are unknown among the 

 higher ones. 



2 See Warming, CEcology of Plants, chap. xxv. 



