64 THE HUMAN SIDE OF PLANTS 
last the Murderer Liana reaches the sunlight above, 
its leaves flapping insolently into the face of the 
tree which has helped it to ascend, and which is 
slowly dying in the choking embrace of the many 
tightening vampire arms. Eventually the sap of 
the upright tree is stopped from flowing, and it 
dies, its dead leaves falling withered to the ground, 
while the unscrupulous Murderer Liana waves its 
leaves in the breeze as if exulting over the dead and 
decaying corpse which it still holds in its grasp. 
One of the best-known parasites, or, one might 
say, petty thieves, as it actually does give some- 
thing in return for the abundance it receives, is 
the common mistletoe. It is an evergreen plant 
with lemon-greenish leaves, which, unlike those of 
many parasitic plants, do perform the function of 
leaves; and it is commonly found on oak, poplar, 
elm, apple, pecan, and many other trees. It ger- 
minates from tiny seeds, which are covered with a 
sticky fluid, and which have been carried by birds 
and planted on the host-tree. 
Perhaps no other form of plant life is so de- 
pendent on the birds as mistletoe. 
When the seeds, left by the bird planter, have 
germinated they begin to send down a tiny 
rootlet into the bark of the tree. As the branch 
of the tree-host continues to grow, the mistletoe 
