LORANTHACEAE 169 



The ancients used to gather the fruit in order to 

 prepare bird lime from it, and as the birds often plant the 

 seeds themselves a Roman writer refers to this relation 

 between bird, plant and man as follows: 



"ipsa sibi avis mortem creat, cum Viscum serat, quo postmodum 

 ab aucupibus capiatur." Plautus 



The mistletoes contain much less tannin than some of 

 the host-plants on which they grow, hence they are 

 eagerly eaten by grazing animals in the Karoo and other 

 arid regions. In times of drought the farmers who live 

 along the river beds of the Karoo, cut off those branches 

 of the acacias which bear mistletoes (Viscum cape?ise and 

 V. rotundifolium), thus making the latter accessible to 

 their stock. 



Over 600 species, belonging to 2 1 genera, especially 

 numerous in the Tropics. Two S. A. genera. 



A. Flowers bisexual, showy, ornithophilous, perianth tubular in bud, 



the 4 — 6 segments elastically separating when touched by the 

 beak of a nectar-seeking bird (Cinnyris). 



Over 300 species, of which 20 in S. A. Loranthus L. 



B. Flowers unisexual, monoecious or dioecious, greenish and incon- 



spicuous ; perianth-segments small, bearing the anthers on their 

 face ; anthers with numerous pollen-bearing chambers, which open 

 by pores. % flowers with a short capitate stigma. Pseudocarp 

 scarlet or white. 



Over 60 species, 12 in S. A. Viscum Tourn. 



Plate 40. 

 Fam. 12. Balanophoraceae. 



Mystropetalon Thomii Harv. 



Plant parasitic on a root of Protea mellifera ; the shoot on the right-hand side in the 

 first (female) stage, the spike on the left with ripe fruits below and male flowers above, 

 the latter visited by a bee. 



1. Female flower surrounded by the bracts. 4/1. 2. Female flower, without the 

 bracts, showing the globular receptacle, the ovary, the limb of the perianth (nectary) and 

 the style. 3. Long, section through nectary, ovary and receptacle. 6/1. 4. Male bud 

 with supporting bracts. 3/1. 5. Male flower with supporting bracts, open, showing the 

 two stamens. 3/1. 6. Pollen grain. 500/1. 7. Fruit with persistent bracts, the two 

 lateral bracts larger than at flowering time. 2/1. 8. Fruit with enlarged receptacle, 

 transformed into an elaiosome (el). 8/1. 9. Long, section through fruit (achene) and 

 elaiosome. Embryo (em) apical, very minute. 10/1. 10. Ants carrying fruits into their 

 nest. II. Young plant of Protea mel/ifera, three years old, with a young thallus of 

 Mystropetalon. The leaves of the Protea are all vertical, as in many other species of 

 Proteaceae, especially when the plants are young. 



