There are some plants that live on other plants. The mosses that you see on trees are plants of this kind. At the South there is a kind of gray moss that hangs down from the branches of trees, sometimes to a great length. It makes the land look as if it were hung in mourning. The sap that nourishes this plant it gets from the bark of the trees. There are mouths in the moss where it hangs from the tree that suck in the sap which they find there.
Dodder, or love-vine.
The dodder, or love-vine, is a curious plant. It lives on other plants. It comes up out of the ground and clings to any plant that happens to be near it. After it is well fastened, and has grown considerably, its root in the ground dies. The little vine does not need it any longer, for it clings by real roots to the plant up which it runs. This is the reason that it is called love-vine; for, like love, it lives on that to which it clings. This vine has no leaves, and it is of a bright-yellow color. So it is sometimes called gold-thread vine.
Questions.—What is said about the root as a support for a tree? How is it with the roots of grass? What is said about roots that are for food? Tell about the root of the beet. Give the comparison made between roots and seed-holders. What is said of the root of the turnip? What of the roots of strawberries and verbenas? What of the roots of dahlias? What is said of bulbs? How do plants grow from slips? What is said about the duck-meat? What is said of mosses? Tell about the dodder.
CHAPTER XXVI.
STALKS AND TRUNKS.
Trunks of trees.
We speak of plants as having stalks, and of trees as having trunks. A tree has a stout firm trunk, because its top is so large and heavy. Its branches spread out so much, that the tree would be broken down by the wind if it did not have a strong trunk.
It is the woody part of the trunk that is so strong. The stalks of plants have no wood in them, because they do not need it. They are strong enough to support the branches without having any wood in them.
Stalks of grain and grass have flint in them.