We may thus note the singular order of vegetable parasites, the _Loranthaceæ_, an order containing some thirty genera with four hundred species, and including the mistletoe, which is traditionally venerable in our island. The great group of catkin-bearing trees (_Amentaceæ_), contains a great assemblage of plants, familiar in England, such as the hornbeam, hazel, oak, beech, Spanish chestnut, birch, willow, poplar, &c.[24] The largest and one of the most remarkable flowers in the world, _Rafflesia_--a parasite found in Java and Sumatra by Sir Stamford Raffles--is the type of the small order _Rafflesiaceæ_. The eccentric pitcher-bearing plants form the order _Nepenthaceæ_. The English herb called "Spurge" (with its milky juice), belongs to the order (_Euphorbiaceæ_), which is a large[25] cosmopolitan group, some species of the plants belonging to which attain, in hot countries, the size of trees. Certain African species strangely resemble different kinds of _Cactus_. The elm order (_Ulmaceæ_) may come next. The hop, the hemp, the mulberry, the fig, and the dorstenia are all nearly allied, the first two belonging to the order _Cannabinaceæ_, the last three to the _Moraceæ_. The bread-fruit of the South-Sea Islands belongs to the same order (_Artocarpaceæ_) as does the deadly upas-tree of Java. Garments made of the inner bark of this plant are like the shirt of Nessus, and will produce intolerable irritation; and even climbing the tree to obtain its flowers is said to have produced severe effects on the climber. In proximity to the last-mentioned plant comes appropriately (as also in its proper botanical order) the group of stinging-nettles (_Urticaceæ_). The curious Australian plants which delighted the eyes of Captain Cook's botanical companions belong to the order _Proteaceæ_. Besides these may be mentioned the dead-nettle order (_Labiatæ_); the broom-rapes (_Orobanchaceæ_); the order of snap-dragons and foxgloves (_Scrophularineæ_); the potato group (_Solanaceæ_), which includes the deadly nightshade and the dulcamara of our hedges; the parasitic order (_Cuscutaceæ_); the beautiful group of convolvuluses (_Convolvulaceæ_); the gentians (_Gentianaceæ_); the primrose group (_Primulaceæ_); the heaths (_Ericaceæ_); the graceful hair-bell and its allies (_Campanulaceæ_); the very large group to which belong the daisy, dandelion, and thistle (_Compositæ_); the honeysuckle order (_Caprifoliaceæ_); the ivy (_Araliaceæ_); the large order containing the fennel, hemlock, and a multitude of other forms which, though mostly ranking as herbs, attain gigantic dimensions in some species found in Africa and Kamskatka (_Umbelliferæ_); the very singularly-shaped group of cactuses (_Cactaceæ_), with leafless fleshy stems, which sometimes look like dry columns and sometimes are globular; the begonias (_Begoniaceæ_); the cucumbers, melons, and vegetable marrows (_Cucurbitaceæ_); the singularly-formed passion-flowers