Strangler seems a dramatic word to apply to a plant, but the strangler fig has earned the title. How it destroys its host tree is the first study in this selection of plants that grow in peculiar ways. Some of these plants are called epiphytes, meaning that they draw their food from air and rain; then there are parasites that live on sap stolen from other plants; and, finally, saprophytes, which live on decaying matter.

Many beautiful orchids are epiphytes, as is the Spanish moss found throughout the southeastern United States. The common dodder is a parasite, which, like the strangler fig, kills its host. Best known among the saprophytes are the mushrooms and toadstools. In addition to describing these familiar examples in our own country, the author discusses such exotic plants as the huge rafflesia of Java and Sumatra, which bears the largest flower known to man. 

A natural scientist as well as a highly skilled artist, Miss Earle presents here a carefully planned and illustrated survey of a seldom-explored phase of plant life.

From the dust jacket