Trying to grok how implicits bind so that 'properties' is essentially passed/shared

gistfile1.txt

class ModelPropertyParser(cls: Class[_], t: Map[String, String] = Map.empty) (implicit properties: LinkedHashMap[String, ModelProperty]) {
  // ...

  def parse = Option(cls).map(parseRecursive(_))
  def parseRecursive(hostClass: Class[_]): Unit = {
     //   ... and way, way deeper down the call stack
     properties += name -> param
  }
  ...
}

class XxxConverter extends ModelConverter {
  def read(cls: Class[_], typeMap: Map[String, String]): Option[Model] = {
    Option(cls).flatMap({
      cls => {
        implicit val properties = new LinkedHashMap[String, ModelProperty]()
        new ModelPropertyParser(cls, typeMap).parse

        val newProperties = mutable.Buffer.empty[(String, ModelProperty)]
        cls.getDeclaredFields.filter(field => Modifier.isPrivate(field.getModifiers)).map(_.getName).flatMap { field =>
          properties.get(field).map { value =>
            properties -= field
            newProperties += field -> value
          }
        }
        newProperties ++= properties
        val p = (for((key, value) <- newProperties)
          yield (value.position, key, value)
        ).toList
    // ... and so forth
}