ANOMALOUS PHANEROGAMUE, 
69 
ANOMALOUS PHANEROGAMIC. 
A. PARASITES. 
Unger lias made some excellent contributions to our know- 
ledge of Parasitical Plants in the Vienna Arcliiy for Natural 
History, yol. ii. (1840). After haying giyen a general sketch 
of the different opinions on parasitical plants, and of the 
literature of the subject, he proceeds to the different classi- 
fications of these plants. On commencing at the lowest of 
them, he states, we shall find the parasite united with the 
plant that giyes it nourishment, in such a manner, that it 
shoots forth immediately from the wood of its supporter, 
and its yascular system anastomoses with the yascnlar system 
of the nourishing plant. This is seen in the species of 
Rajfflesia, Brugmansia, Pilostyles, and Apodanthes, perhaps 
also in Cytinus. An immersion of one substance into the 
other, without any intermediate aid, is perfectly recognis- 
able here ; the lowest part of the parasite is, in a manner, 
wedged into the nourishing plant ; its parenchyma exactly 
joining itself to the parenchyma of the bark of the nourishing 
plant, and the yascular bundles of the former are attached 
separately to the parts of the wood separated by the medul- 
lary ray. 2d, The parasite forms a sort of root-stock, by 
which it adheres to the nourishing plant, and from which it 
sends forth seyeral flower stalks. 3d, A part of the yascular 
system of the nourishing plant is receiyed into the root-stock 
of the parasite, and by means of an increased reaction (pro- 
bably produced in the same way as germination), a substance 
is thus formed, which belongs both to the parasite and to the 
nourishing plant ; Balanophora, Cynomorium, Cynopsole, 
Sareophyte, LophopTiytum, and Omhrophytum. 4th, The 
parasite forms a root-stock, the fibres of which attach them- 
selyes to the nourishing plant ; Ilelosis and Langsdorfia. 
5th, No root-stock is formed, but strongly ramified roots, 
which are connected with the mother plant through means of 
papillae ; Lathraea squamaria, 6th, Inoculation of the 
461 
