. Botany of the living plant. Botany; Plants. > •. » BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT and to produce at least part of their own nourishment. They are only partial parasites. This state is seen in the Loranthaceae, with the familiar example of the Mistletoe (Viscum), a plant which grows fixed on the branches of various trees. It occurs occasionally on the Oak, on which it was in early days recognised as the mysterious " Golden ; Other native green parasites are the Eyebright {Euphrasia officinalis), and the Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus Crista-gaM), while Cassytha, a very omnivorous pa
. Botany of the living plant. Botany; Plants. > •. » BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT and to produce at least part of their own nourishment. They are only partial parasites. This state is seen in the Loranthaceae, with the familiar example of the Mistletoe (Viscum), a plant which grows fixed on the branches of various trees. It occurs occasionally on the Oak, on which it was in early days recognised as the mysterious " Golden ; Other native green parasites are the Eyebright {Euphrasia officinalis), and the Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus Crista-gaM), while Cassytha, a very omnivorous parasite of the tropics, has also a green colour. These plants are all fixed by means of haustoria or suckers upon the host-plant in such a way that the tissues of the one come into close. Fig. 149. Root of Louse-wort (Pedicularis), which like Eyebright and Yellow-Rattle, is fixed by suckers upon the roots of the host, here represented black. (After Maybrook.) relation with the tissues of the other. In the case of Eyebright and Yellow Rattle there are suckers upon the roots, and they penetrate the roots of the grasses with which the plant grows. The close juxta- position of the roots in the sod offers a ready opportunity for the parasite (Fig. 149). The effect of the parasitism upon the Grasses in a meadow is such that patches infested by Yellow Rattle can often be recognised from a distance by the poverty of their growth. In Cassytha t he suckers arise from the shoot, and the close vegetation of the tropical undergrowth gives the necessary contact at many points. In the case of Mistletoe, and of its near relative Loranthus, the opportunity for parasitic attachment arises from the fact that their fruits are viscid ; in fact Bird-Lime is derived from them. The berries are eaten by birds which reject the sticky seeds, leaving them attached to the twigs on which they perched. Here the seeds germinate, and. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that
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