70 
NATURE STUDY. 
tion, and cannot be answered in so few words, though it 
need not take long to enumerate the main points. These 
plants need neither chlorophyll nor leaves because, either, 
first, they derive their nourishment from the elaborated 
food of other plants upon which they fasten themselves; 
or, second, they live upon the organic matter resulting from 
the decay of other plants ; or, third, they form partnerships 
with other plants, both partners deriving equal benefit 
from the combination. Green plants construct their own 
food ; these queer plants beg, borrow or steal it. 
The plants in the first group, those which actually steal 
the assimilated food material of their hosts, are the true 
parasites. Those in the second group, living upon the re¬ 
sults of vegetable decay, are properly called saprophytes. 
The third group, plants which form partnerships with 
other plants, are now known as S3^mbiots, the condition of 
the allied plants being called symbiosis, literally, a living 
together. Closely allied to the first group are certain 
plants which are only partially dependent on their host 
and are called hemiparasites. Similarly allied to the sec¬ 
ond group are the hemisaprophytes. As might be expect¬ 
ed, these sub-groups consist of green and leafy plants 
whose predatory habits have not as yet accomplished their 
total degradation. 
Besides these groups of colorless plants and their allies, 
there are also included in what is now called the ‘ ‘ organ- 
otopic ’ ’ flora two others, the epiphytes and the insectivo¬ 
rous plants. The epiphytes are included because they lo¬ 
cate themselves upon a host plant, drawing nourishment 
from the moist air of their habitat. They lodge, but they 
do not board. The insectivorous plants constitute an out¬ 
lying group, remarkable for the habit of deriving organic 
compounds from decaying animal matter. 
An enumeration of the several groups may serve to fix 
them in mind and make it easier to place local plants to be 
