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LO NICER A 
plete by the second evening when the next crop of buds is opening. 
At the same time the fir. has changed from white to yellow in colour. 
The length of the tube prevents any but very long-tongued insects 
from obtaining honey. 
Lopezia Cav. Onagraceae (vn). 12 sp. Cent. Am. The fir. is zygo- 
morphic. The two upper petals are bent upwards a little way from 
their base, and at the bend there seems to be a drop of honey. In 
reality this is a dry glossy piece of hard tissue; like the similar 
bodies in Parnassia it deceives flies. There are real nectaries however 
at the base of the fir. There are two sta., of which the posterior only 
is fertile ; it is enclosed at first in the anterior one, which is a spoon- 
shaped petaloid staminode. In the early stage of the fir., while the 
style is still quite short and undeveloped, insects alight on the sta., 
later the style grows out into the place at first occupied by the sta., 
which now bends upwards out of the way. Self-fertilisation seems 
almost impossible. In L. coronata Andr. and other sp. there is an 
upward tension in the sta., a downward in the staminode, and an 
explosion occurs when an insect alights. 
Lophantlius Benth. Labiatae (vi. 3). 2 sp. Centr. As., China. Fir. 
stalk sometimes resupinate like that of Lobelia. 
Lophophytum Schott et Endl. Balanophoraceae. 4 sp. trop. S. Am. 
Loranthaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Santalales). 21 gen. with 
520 sp. trop. and temp. The only genus in Brit, is Viscum, the 
mistletoe, but many occur in warmer climates. An extremely in- 
teresting order of parasitic plants, possessing green leaves (p. 176). 
They are mostly semi-parasitic shrubs of small size, attached to 
their host plants by means of suckers or haustoria — usually regarded 
as modified adventitious roots (p. 39). A few root in the earth, 
e.g. the West Australian Nuytsia, which grows into a small tree 
30 feet high. Most species are fairly omnivorous in their choice of 
hosts, but a few are restricted to one or two. Where the parasitic 
root joins the host, there is not uncommonly an outgrowth, often of 
considerable size and complicated in shape. The parasitic root often 
branches within the tissues of the host, as in the mistletoe. The stem 
is sympodial, often dichasial, e.g. in Viscum, and the leaves usually 
evergreen and of leathery texture. 
The infl. is cymose, the firs, usually occurring in little groups of 3 
(or 2, by abortion of the central fir.). When the firs, are stalked, the 
bracts of the lateral firs, are always united to their stalks, up to the 
point of origin of the fir. (see Viscum and Loranthus). The infl. is 
sometimes in spikes, with the firs, on the internodes as well as on the 
nodes. 
The receptacle is hollowed out, and the perianth springs from its 
margin. In the Loranthoideae there is below the perianth an out- 
growth of the axis in the form of a small fringe — the caly cuius — about 
whose morphology there has been some discussion. On the ground 
