Rooted in Other Minds

So, if our light-and-air-seeking tendencies extend too widely for our original root or stem, we must send downward new roots to ally us to the earth. Also there are parasitic plants which have their roots in the branches or roots of other trees, as the mistletoe, the beech-drops, etc. There are minds which so have their roots in other minds as in the womb of nature,—if, indeed, most are not such?!

After quoting Asa Gray on aerial roots, Thoreau wonders whether some minds live on others the way mistletoe and beech-drops do.

Source: Henry D. Thoreau, Journal, ed. Bradford Torrey (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906), Journal, vol. II (Writings, vol. VIII), entry for May 20, 1851. Text: scan or ebook. Public domain in the US. Text note: The "?!" is Thoreau's own. Pairs with: Wands: Two or Page of Wands, or Major Arcana: The High Priestess A note from 2026: Mistletoe is a hemiparasite: it makes its own sugar and draws water and minerals through a haustorium, not true roots. Beech-drops (Epifagus) is a full parasite on beech roots.

Public domain in the United States.