LXXVI 
PLANTS THAT PREY 
I SN’T IT ODD that some plants live on other plants 
as well as on animals and human beings! 
These plants that prey are members of the fungus fam¬ 
ily. That family started out with the idea of never earn¬ 
ing its own living, but simply taking its food wherever it 
might. As a matter of fact, its original intention was to 
live on the waste vegetable matter that lay about. The 
toadstool in the corner of the barnyard typifies this 
method. The mold over the top of the jar of jam is an¬ 
other familiar example of its method. Both the toadstool 
and the mold are fungi. 
But as they went along, certain members of this fungus 
family were tempted to attack vegetation before it be¬ 
came waste. The face of a green leaf, for example, has 
much moisture in it, brought up from the roots, and fungi 
like moisture. The leaf is full of plant food, since it is 
the factory in which the plant manufactures its groceries. 
Certain of these tiny fungus plants got the habit of at¬ 
taching themselves to the leaves of living plants. The 
rusty spots so often seen on leaves are one of the results. 
Wilting leaves and “ burned ” leaves have suffered these 
attacks from fungi. Apple rust, that often spoils the crop, 
comes from great forests of tiny plants on the trees af¬ 
fected. Black rust, that destroys the wheat crops of the 
West, comes from a plant which lives on another. 
When these tiny plants attempted to find homes on 
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