LIV.— ' THE BASTARD TOAD-FLAX. 
Thesium humifusum De Candolle. 
HE small but widespread Family Santalacece are in many respects similar to 
the Loranthace<e , and, like them, are partially parasitic, being either attached to 
the branches of other plants, as is the Mistletoe, or to their roots, as is this Bastard 
Toad-flax. The leaves are exstipulate, simple, entire, and generally scattered, and 
narrow. The small flowers may be solitary in the leaf-axils or in small cymose 
groups of three, just as in Mistletoe ; and, though generally perfect, may be 
unisexual. The sepaloid perianth may be perigynous or epigynous, and consists of 
from three to five lobes, which are valvate in the bud and have generally a tuft of 
hairs on the centre of their inner surfaces. The stamens are equal in number to the 
perianth-segments, to which they are attached by their short filaments ; but their 
anthers, though exceptionally four-chambered with terminal pores, are usually two- 
chambered and burst down the length of their inner faces. The ovary is inferior 
and one-chambered, though the lobing of the style and the presence of from two to 
five ovules are indicative of its being formed of several united carpels. The ovules 
are extremely simple, being entirely destitute of coats or integuments , and only one of 
them becomes a seed. They hang from the summit of an axis or placenta that rises 
from the base of the ovary. 
The only important economic product of the Family is Sandal-wood, which is 
used for cabinet-work and carving, for incense and perfumery, and in medicine. It 
is the wood of the East Indian tantalum album Linne, and of allied Australasian 
species, which form large trees. One species, a native of Juan Fernandez, is now 
only represented apparently by a single tree. 
The humble herbaceous root-parasites which form the genus Thesium constitute 
more than half the Family. The name is unquestionably derived from that of the 
Athenian hero Theseus. Games were held in his memory, and the drjcrecov, theseion, 
of the Greek botanist Theophrastus, seems to have been some plant which was 
used to form the crown that was competed for at these games. It is difficult to 
connect any such plant with the inconspicuous bearers of the name in modern 
botany. They are all slender, perennial root-parasites, with scattered, narrow leaves, 
and minute, whitish-green, perfect flowers, belonging mostly to the North 
Temperate regions of the Old World. The inflorescence is, at least primarily, 
racemose, and the bract below each flower is united to the flower-stalk, and, flanked 
by two bracteoles almost equalling it in size, forms what appears like a three-leaved 
involucre. The 4 — 5-lobed, tubular, adherent perianth or calyx persists in the fruit 
stage, and each lobe bears a stamen and a tuft of hairs at the base of its short 
filament. There is but a single style and a capitate stigma, and anthers and stigma 
mature simultaneously. Nectar is secreted at the base of the flower and the anthers 
on bursting remain open for some time, not apparently discharging all their pollen at 
