APETALiE 225 



Mistletoe (Visctim album). 



Apart from its popularity amongst young and old 

 from its association with Christmas festivities, a relic 

 of the older pagan customs (if indeed the plant was, 

 as we are informed, held in veneration, along with 

 the Oak, by the Druids), the Mistletoe is one of the 

 most interesting types of British plants, from its 

 parasitic habit, and dependence upon birds for its 

 distribution. 



There is no clue as to the origin of the name 

 Mistletoe,* of which there are many variations. The 

 first Latin name attributed to Pliny is the name for 

 Mistletoe, and is also used for the bird-lime which 

 was prepared from it. A Greek word, ixos, has the 

 same significance. There is a Celtic word " givid," 

 meaning shrub, which is said to be cognate with it. 



Being parasitical on certain trees the distribution of 

 Mistletoe is somewhat restricted. It occurs, however, 

 in England and Wales generally, but is most common 

 in the west and south, being rarer in the north, and it 

 is not found in Scotland or Ireland. It may be con- 

 sidered most abundant in the counties of Hereford- 

 shire, Gloucestershire, and Shropshire. 



As a rule the habitat is woods or copses, or when 

 the host-plant is an Apple Tree an orchard. When 

 ound on the Poplar the habitat is hedgerows. 



* Unless we derive it, as does Skeat, from the A. S. mistletan, in 

 which tan signifies twig, and mistel from mist, in Old Dutch bird-lime. 

 The name in the fourteenth century was Mystyldene, and the plant 

 was called also Lignum criicis. 



VOL. III. 15 



