VII 
PLANTS THAT ROB, PLUNDER, AND MURDER 
“In the meek garb of modest worth disguised, 
The eye averted and the smile chastised, 
With sly approach they spread their dangerous charms, 
And round their victims wind their wiry arms.” 
MONG the interesting things in nature, per- 
haps none are more striking than the many 
plants which, like human beings and animals, rob, 
plunder, and murder. These things they do for 
many causes, but their main object is personal gain: 
they either do not wish to work, or they have become 
so degradingly poor that they have been forced to 
become robbers and so live by the effort of some 
honest, working plant. These paupers must have 
food and nourishment, and they secure it by rob- 
bery. Some actually commit murder, sucking the 
last drop of vitality out of the host plant; others 
are only petty thieves, and do not actually kill their 
host, but seem merely to seek sufficient food to keep 
themselves alive and healthy; still others appear 
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