LORANTHACEZA. 
1 cell. Seed solitary, heart-shaped, compressed, sometimes with 
a double embryo.—Parasitical on trees, shrubby, branched, all 
smooth except one species, pale green. Branches terete, tetra- 
gonal, or compressed, usually }>inted. Leaves opposite, very 
rarely alternate, simple, undivided, entire, rigid, sometimes 
wanting or reduced to scales. Flowers in fascicles or spikes, 
greenish. Berries of various colours. Concerning the very 
singular germination of Viscum, see Malpighi, oper. 140. fig. 
105. Duham. phys. arb. vol. 2. p. 220. liv. 5. t. 1. f. 2-10. 
§1. 
1 V. argum (Lin. spec. 1451.) 
stem much branched, forked: 
with sessile, intermediate heads, 
of about 5 flowers; branches 
terete; leaves obovate-lanceo- 
late, obtuse, nerveless. h . P.H. 
Native of Europe, parasitical on 
trees, especially on the apple- 
tree and hawthorn; but it is 
said also to have been found 
growing on the lime-tree, oak, 
American locust-tree, elm, fir, 
pear-tree, service, almond, white 
willow, walnut, &c. Smith, 
engl. bot. t. 1470. Mill. fig. 
87. Woodv. suppl. t. 270.— 
Duham. arb. 2. t. 104. Rich. ann. mus. 12. t. 27.—Fuschs. 
hist. 329. t. 1817. Cam. epit. 555. with a figure. V. album 
of Thunb. and Walt. are distinct from this. Root hard, incor- 
porated deep with the wood of the tree on which it grows, 
without any radicles, as in all the other species of this genus, as 
well as of Loránthus and the allied genera. Leaves permanent, 
stif, with parallel ribs. Flowers yellowish. Berries white, 
pellucid, the size of a currant, sweet, very glutinous internally, 
Serving to make the best bird-lime, when boiled with a small 
Portion of vegetable oil. Lordnthus Europæus seems to be the 
original and most common mistletoe, @cZo¢ of the Greeks, which 
grows usually on some kind of fir-tree. But our V. álbum is some- 
times found in Greece, though rarely, growing on the oak; and 
this has been preferred from the most remote antiquity. Hence, 
When the superstitions of the East travelled westward, our 
Druids adopted a notion of the mistletoe of the oak being more 
oly or efficacious in conjurations or medicine, than what any 
other tree afforded, the Loranthus or ordinary mistletoe not being 
known here. This superstition actually remains, and a plant of 
Viscum from an oak is preferred by those who rely on virtues, 
Which perhaps never existed in any mistletoe whatever. The 
Druids sent round their attendant youths with branches of mistle- 
toe to announce the entrance of the new year ; and something 
like the same custom is still continued in France. In England 
branches of it are hung up in most houses at Christmas, along 
with other evergreens. The berries are devoured by several 
birds of the thrush kind, and especially by the mistletoe thrush. 
he common mistletoe is not difficult to propagate by sticking 
the berries on thorn or apple trees, after a little of the outer 
bark has been cut off, and tying a shred of mat over them, to 
Protect them from the birds. 
White-berried or Common Mistletoe. Fl. May. 
Shrub par. 
2 V. steLLA rum (Hamilt. in D. Don, prod. fi. nep. 142.) 
muçh branched ; branches whorled, terete; leaves oblong, ob- 
tuse, attenuated at the base, 5-nerved beneath ; flowers terminal, 
Sessile, 3-5-together in a cluster. h. P.H. Native of Upper 
ipaul, at Suembu, parasitical on trees. Habit of V. átbum. 
erves of leaves acutely prominent on the under surface, but 
Plants with true leaves. 
Flowers in fascicles or umbels. 
FIG. 73. 
Britain. 
I. Viscum. 403 
line-formed on the upper surface. The branches are more likely 
dichotomous or trichotomous than verticillate. 
Starry Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 
3 V. orientare (Willd. spec. 4. p. 737.) branches terete ; 
leaves oblong, obtuse, attenuated at the base, 3-nerved ; pe- 
duncles axillary, usually 3-flowered. h. P.S. Native of the 
East Indies (ex Wall.), and of Java, on the mountains (ex Blum. 
bijdr. 666.), and of Palestine upon olive trees, ex Sieb. pl. exsic. 
pal. Leaves 15-18 lines long, but in the Palestine specimens 
20-23 lines long. Berries purple, ex Wall. Perhaps the Indian 
plant is the same as the Palestine one. 
Eastern Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 
4 V. Heynea‘num (D.C. prod. 4. p. 278.) branches terete ; 
branchlets rather compressed ; leaves ovate, acute at both ends, 
quintuple-nerved ; peduncles axillary, aggregate, 3-flowered. 
b. P.S. Native of the East Indies, where it was collected by 
Heyne. V. orientale, Heyne, herb. ex Wall, and probably of 
Willd. The form of the leaves is truly different from the Pa- 
lestine form of V. orientale, but more of the figure of those of 
V. monoicum. 
Heyne’s Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 
5 V. monoicum (Roxb. hort. beng. p. 105.) branches terete, 
jointed: branchlets striated; leaves elliptic-oblong, acuminated 
at both ends, 5-nerved: the 2 lateral nerves hardly conspicuous ; 
fascicles axillary, very short, few-flowered, somewhat spicate. 
h. P. S. Native of the East Indies, at Sunderbund. 
Monoecious Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 
6 V. ratca tum (Wall. cat. no. 492.) branches terete ; leaves 
elliptic-oblong, acuminated, rather falcate, acute at the base, 5- 
nerved ; fascicles of flowers axillary, aggregate, sessile, usually 
with only 3 flowers in each cluster. k. P. S. Native of the 
East Indies, on the Pundua mountains. Leaves 24-27 lines long, 
and 9-10 broad. Flowers very small. 
Falcate-leaved Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 
7 V. ovatirorium (Wall. cat. no. 489.) branches terete ; leaves 
oval, obtuse, 5-nerved, narrowed into the short petioles at the 
base; flowers some of them in axillary sessile fascicles, and others 
are opposite, and somewhat verticillate, along an axillary rachis, 
disposed in an interrupted spike. .P.S. Native of the East 
Indies, in the island of Penang. Leaves 3 inches long, and 14 
broad. Rachis not articulated. Berry oval. 
Oval-leaved Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 
8 V. oprusa‘rum (Wall. cat. no. 494.) branches terete; leaves 
oval, obtuse, somewhat cuneated, 5-nerved; flowers axillary, 
1-3-together, almost sessile. h. P. S. Native of the East 
Indies, in the kingdom of Ava, on Mount Taong-Dong. Leaves 
30 lines long, and 15 lines broad. Flowers small. Berries 
oval. Lateral nerves of leaves slender. 
Bluntish-leaved Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 
9 V. neTeRA’NrHuM (Wall. cat. no. 488.) branches angular, 
at length terete; leaves elliptic, obtuse, cuneated at the base, 
5-nerved beneath; peduncles axillary, 2-5-together, equal in 
length to the petioles, capitate at the apex, 5-6-flowered, bear- 
ing 3-5 involucrate bracteas. h. P. S. Native of Nipaul. 
Berries ovate-globose, solitary in each head, surrounded by the 
small, permanent bracteas. Flowers 5-cleft, one central, the 
rest disposed in a whorl around the central one, all sessile on the 
top of the common peduncle. 
Variable-flomered Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 
10 V. PLATYPHYLLUM (Spreng. cur. post. 47.) branches alter- 
nate, angular; leaves alternate, ovate or obovate, petiolate, 
attenuated at the base, nerved beneath; umbellules usually of 4 
flowers, dispersed, pedunculate, solitary or aggregate : involucels 
5-cleft, permanent. A Native of Nipaul, at Bimpedi. 
V. latifòlium, Hamilt. in D. Don, prod. fi. nep. p. 142. but not 
of others. 
SF 2 
