THE MISTLETOE FAMILY. 347 



over the outbuildings at Damhead Farm, Mobberley. Fl. late in 



autumn ; the berries ripe in spring, when they are common in rustic 



posies. 



Curtis, i. 16 ; E. B. xviii. 1207 ; Baxter, i. 33. 



Ivy is not a parasite, as commonly supposed, but has its roots in the earth, 

 and simply adheres to the trees or other props by which it is elevated into the air. 

 It is only upon the unsupported branches that flowers and fruit ever occur ; 

 if the stem have suckers upon it, there are neither. " Irish Ivy," and several 

 other beautiful varieties, are occasionally planted against garden walls. Mr. Side- 

 botham has a very pretty collection of them. 



2. MusK-KOOT — {Adoxa Moschatellina.) 

 Damp and shady hedgebanks, and in moist woods, common. 

 Abundant about Ashton-upon-Mersey. Fl, April. 

 Cmtis, i. 99 ; E. B. vii. 453 ; Baxter, i. 43. 



Some authors place this plant in the Honeysuckle Family, to which both it and 

 the ivy approach as regai-ds their flowers. 



CV.— THE MISTLETOE FAMILY. LoranthdcecB. 



Shrubs, to the number of four hundred species or more, in almost 

 every case growing into the tissue of other plants as true parasites. 

 (Seepages 163, 212, 231.) Near Manchester, and perhaps in Eng- 

 land generally, they are known in the living state only in the typical 

 species, the common mistletoe used for Christmas decorations, which 

 in habit gives an idea of all. The only conspicuous difference in the 

 foreign kinds is that the flowers are often scarlet, orange-coloured, or 

 of some other brilliant tint. They belong chiefly to the equinoctial 

 regions of America and Asia, and are noted for the astringency of 

 their bark, and for the viscidity of their berries. 



Mistletoe is a shrubby perennial, with yellowish-green, repeatedly 

 forked, jointed, round, somewhat succulent branches, clothed with nar- 

 row oblong, opposite, entire, obtuse, and leathery leaves, and forming 

 dense bushes, which attain a diameter of two to four or five feet. The 

 stems, which become woody when old, are attached by a thickened 

 base to the branches of trees, drawing sustenance from them, and of 

 course inflicting serious injury. The flowers are small, almost sessile, 

 in the forks of the branches, greenish yellow, and unisexual, some 

 plants bearing only male blossoms, others only female ones. The 

 males grow three to five together, and have four short, thick, 

 triangular petals, and four stamens ; the females are solitary, or nearly 



