All the while squeezing and causing decay, the meshes close
up. The trunk of the host is completely enclosed; it is the dying core
of a living cylinder, for the first shoots have long since crept up
among the branches, have expanded their leaves, and are busy sapping the
life-blood of the tree at all points. A greedy intractable, implacable
foe, it gives no quarter, but flourishes upon its dead or dying friend,
upon which in its youth it leaned delicately for support. Finally it
weaves its slender shoots among the topmost leaves of its victim, and
having outgrown its growth, flourishes on its decay.
This vegetable usurper produces immense crops of small purple figs, the
favourite food of many birds. So bountiful are its crops, and so much
are they appreciated, that one perceives, almost without reflection, its
due and proper place in the harmony of nature. To complete the cycle,
birds frequently, after eating the fruit, "strop" their beaks on the
bark of a neighbouring tree. Now and again a seed thus finds favourable
conditions for its germination, and then the parasite sends exploring
roots to the ground, forming as they descend intricate lace-work, while
shoots repeat a similar process as they climb further up the trunk and
among the branches.
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