1886.] 



THE MISTLETOE (VISCUM ALBUM). 



625 



dragon's blood being preferred for that purpose instead. It ap})ear.s 

 to have been employed by the ancient Guanches for preserving their 

 dead. Oar illustration is taken from the larirest 



specnnen now 



extant, which stands just outside the gates of the cemetery at the 

 little steep village of Icco del Alto. The age of these monster trees 

 must be very great, but there is no means of decidinrr how ureat 

 even appro.ximately. 



THE MISTLETOE {VISCUM ALBUM). 



THIS is the only true parasitical plant indigenous to Britain, 

 because at no period of its existence does it obtain its 

 nourishment directly from the soil. It germinates in the bark of 

 the tree to which the seed by natural or artificial means becomes 

 attached, and if it should perchance fall on the soil and germinate, 

 there it immediately dies. It is not particular as to the sort of tree 

 it lives upon, as it is found growing alike freely on the apple, thorn, 

 maple, poplar, lime, ash, oak, and even on the pine, but less freely 

 on the two last named than on any of the others. All the readers 

 of Forestry and the public in general are familiar enough with the 

 plant to render description of it here superfluous. The young folks 

 of both sexes look for it in tlie Christmas decorations of every home 

 with as much zest as for plum -pudding and mince pie. It is an 

 indispensable emblem of Christmas with most European nations, 

 but especially with the Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon races ; and our 

 American cousins look upon it with quite as much favour in that 



