DIOECIA. 19 



ORDER 4. 



MISSELTOE. This plant, instead of rooting and ™™£N- 



1 ° DRIA. 



growing in the earth, fixes itself into the branches of 



trees, where it spreads and forms a bush, conspicuous 

 in winter, when it has a yellowish hue. In Worces- 

 tershire and Herefordshire it is very common in 

 orchards and hedge-rows, on apple-trees. In the nor- 

 thern counties it is less frequent, and has not Deen re- 

 marked to grow in any part of Scotland. In England 

 it is rarely found on the Oak, but in Hungary it is 

 said, by Clusius, to abound on that tree. 



It blossoms in May, and produces berries semi- 

 transparent, full of a sweetish viscid pulp, enclosing 

 one seed j of these berries bird-lime is made, which 

 would seem to be a very old application of their use, 

 as the English name is derived from a Saxon word, 

 signifying" bird-lime. 



The Misseltoe is the golden bough of Virgil, 

 which was iEneas's passport to the infernal regions. x 

 It was always considered as sacred by the ancient 

 Druids, and the tree on which it grew, if it were an 

 oak. The use that was made of the berries by the 

 ancient Romans, and the religious veneration attached 

 to the plant by the Druids, are thus recorded by Pliny 

 the Elder : 



" Bird-lime is made of the berries of the Mis- 

 seltoe, which are collected unripe, in the season of har- 

 vest -, if they are left to be exposed to showers, they are 



x /En. lib. vi. ver. 130. 



