Tab. 7828. 



VISCUM CRUCIATUM. 

 Native of Spain, N,E. Africa, and Syria. 



Nat. Ord. LoRANTHACEiK. — Tribe Visck/e. 

 Genus ViscuM, Linn.; {Benth. ^ Hooh.f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 213.) 



ViscDM (Euviscum) cruciatum, ; dioicum, canle tereti e basi ramoso saturate 

 viridi, foliis subsessilibus oblongis ellipticis linearibusve obtusis basi 

 angustatis coriaceo-carnosis obscure S-nerviis flavo-viridibna, fl. masc. 

 majusculis terminalibus, petalis ad i poll, longis lineari-oblongis obtusis 

 pateoti-recurvis, antheris lineari-oblongis, fl. fem. minutis ad apicom 

 peduncuU brevissimi ternis, ovario turbinate, petalis triangularibus, baccis 

 pedicellatis globosia fusco-rubris. 



ViscuM cruciatum, Sieb. ex Sprenq. Syst Veg. vol. i. p. 488 (in syn.). BoUa. 

 Voy. Bot. Esp. ii. p. 274 ; Fl. Orient, vol. iv. p. 1068. Post, Fl Syr. Palest. 

 and Sinai, p. 712. Wilkomm & Lange Prodr. Fl .Hispan. vol. i. p. 25, ct 

 Suppl. p. 6. 



V. orientale, DC. Prodr. vol. iv. p. 278, partim. 

 V. album, Webb, Iter Hispan. p. 42 {non Linn.). 

 Yiscum baccis purpureis, Belon. Oba. des Singularites tronveSs en Grke, Afie, 



Judee, 4"c. (1554), lib. II. cap. Ixxxiii. Glusius, Rar. Stirp. Hispan. (lo7C) 



p. 47. 



Viscum cruciatum was first recognized as distinct 

 from V. album, by De I'Ecluse (latine Glusius), who dis- 

 covered it growing on Olive trees around Hispali, in 

 Granada, and described it in 1576. In his description of 

 it, he ol3serves that it appeared to him to be the same 

 as a plant noticed by Pierre Belon (latine Belonius 

 sen Bellonius), who, having visited Greece, Judasa, 

 Egypt, and Arabia, published a work in 1554 with the 

 title cited above. That this supposed identity should 

 prove a real one is singular, when it is considered that the 

 plant in question has been found in no other countries than 

 the extreme east and the extreme west of the Mediterranean 

 Sea. Other examples of this same dislocated distribution 

 are, however, familiar, of which Rhododendron poiilin-nt, 

 is one, but this last is not a parasite, neither is it dioecious. 

 Viscum cruciatum appears to be a common plant in Granada, 

 growing usually on Olive trees, which it sometimes 

 injures and sterilizes; but it also occurs on Crtii;rrjii% 

 Popnlvs alha, and Piaus Pinaster. In Syria, Po-st, in his 

 April Ist, 1902. 



