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A TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY [Ch. Ill, 10 



possessing ancestors. Without leaves, tliere is small need 

 for stems, which accordingly are also much reduced in 

 many of the flowering parasites. An extreme in these 

 respects is reached in that remarkable flowering parasite, 

 the Rafflesia of Java (Fig. 61), where the plant consists 



solely of a single gigantic 

 flower (some three feet 

 across and the largest 

 flower known), which, 

 through a verj' short 

 stem and some haus- 

 torial roots, is parasitic 

 upon overgromid roots 

 of trees. 



The Fungi, including 

 the Bacteria, comprise 

 many thousands of 

 species of parasites and 

 saprophytes, which ex- 

 hibit structures ha\'ing 

 obvious relation to the 

 conditions under which 

 those plants live. Para- 

 sitic Bacteria mostly 

 inhabit the tissues of 

 living plants or animals, 

 from which they absorb 

 the nutritive juices di- 

 rectly through the walls 

 of their very simple 

 bocHes. The true Fungi possess no leaves, stems, or roots, 

 but consist ordinarily of two parts, — fird, a feeding body 

 called a mycelifm (Fig. (J2), composed of numerous fine 

 white threads which ramify over and through their hosts, or 

 the decaying materials on which they grow ; and second, a 

 SPOROPHORE which comes out from the surface, and develops 



Fig. .59. — The Dodder, Cuscula Europea ; 

 X 2. It is here parasitic on Willow, on whicli 

 it twines. Note the scale-like minute leaves, 

 and the flowers in clusters. On the left is a 

 section showing the connection of the haus- 

 torial roots with the veins of the host. 

 (From Strasburger.) 



