190 THE AUTUMN PANORAMA 
although they strew the thin shells liberally among the 
leaves to show that the harvest is abundant. The 
Beech shelters those odd, interesting parasites, the 
Beech Drops, supposed to draw nourishment from 
its roots. Their flesh-coloured, leafless stems are 
about a foot high and are studded with insignificant 
flowers. We demand conformity in the vegetable 
world as elsewhere, and when a plant grows without 
leaves and has flowers that do not open it is naturally 
regarded with suspicious aversion. Although the 
Beech drops are abundant and are looked for under 
every Beech tree, still they are not free from the 
eerie significance attaching to the Corpse plant and 
the Cancer root. These seem to suggest a parasitic 
unwholesome life, in contrast to the glorious death 
of the broad valley and rising hill, where autumn,, 
with her Midas touch, is turning the world to gold. 
