Their leaves are wholly wanting, or are
indicated by small, imperceptible scales, and their organs of vegetation
are reduced to a stem and filiform branches that have obtained for them
the names of _Cheveux de Venus_ (Venus' Hair) and _Cheveux du Diable_
(devil's hair) in French, and gold thread in English. Because of their
destructive nature they have likewise been called by the unpoetic name
of hellweed; and, for the reason that they embrace their host plants so
closely, they have been called love weed and love vine.
When a seed of _Cuscuta_, germinates, no cotyledons are to be
distinguished. This peculiarity, however, the plant has in common with
other parasites, and even with some plants, such as orchids, that
vegetate normally. The radicle of the dodder fixes itself in the earth,
and the little stem rises as in other dicotyledons; but soon (for the
plantlet could not live long thus) this stem, which is as slender as a
thread, seeks support upon some neighboring plant, and produces upon
its surfaces of contact one or more little protuberances that shortly
afterward adhere firmly to the support and take on the appearance and
functions of cupping glasses.
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