Read it through once

The only other flowering plant which we shall mention in this chapter is now fortunately very rare in Great Britain. This is the Dodder, _Cuscuta_. It belongs to the Convolvulus or Bindweed order, but is entirely different from the rest of the family. Some climbing plants do throttle or choke the trunks of young trees if they twine round them too closely, but the Dodder has an entirely special and peculiar way of supporting itself to the detriment of others. It has no roots, no leaves, and scarcely any green chlorophyll; the Dodder is just a twining, thread-like, yellowish stem which carries here and there small round clusters of little convolvulus-like flowers. Wherever the Dodder thread twines round a hop or other plant, it puts out small suckers which drive their way into the stem of the hop and take from it all the food which the Dodder requires. When well developed it forms dense yellowish tangles of intricately entwined threads, which may cover whole bushes and entirely destroy the supporting plants. The Flax, Clover, and Hop Dodders are perhaps the worst of them all.