226 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



A shrub in habit the stem is jointed, woody when 

 old, and the branches are succulent, repeatedly forked 

 twice, round in section, knotted. The plant is ever- 

 green, smooth, and succulent, yellowish-green. The 

 leaves are whorled or opposite, narrow to oblong, 

 ovate to lance-shaped, or inversely ovate, blunt, entire, 

 five- to seven-nerved. They are thick and fleshy. 

 - The plant is dioecious. The flowers are stalkless 

 in the axils, clustered. There are about three to five 

 male flowers in a cluster, without a perianth, the 

 parts in threes with two cup-shaped bracts. The 

 female flowers are five in number, green or yellowish, 

 with four perianth-lobes, which are triangular. The 

 stigma is blunt, stalkless, as are the anthers, which are 

 many-celled and open by pores. The fruit is a berry, 

 white (hence album), transparent, round, or ovoid, 

 sticky, one-seeded, with a sticky pulp externally. 

 The embryos, which are one to three, are green, and if 

 there are but two they are united by the cotyledons. 



In height the mistletoe is i to 4 ft., hanging from 

 beneath a branch or growing erect. It is in flower 

 from February to May, and is a perennial shrub. It 

 is said to live as long as forty years. 



The flowers contain honey, and are pollinated by 

 bees and flies. The plant may be dioecious or 

 monoecious. The stamens are fused with the peri- 

 anth-lobes. There are several pollen-sacs. 



The seed is sticky, and the layer of viscin prevents 

 the bird from swallowing the seed, which it detaches 

 from the sticky pulp with its bill, and leaves on a 



