216 TYPES OF BRITISH PLANTS 
it has leaves, they are much more closely allied to the 
stem in shape and colour than are those of most other 
plants, and it would not be surprising if they, too, lost 
what green they have before very 
long, and descended to the scaly 
state. Its life history is interesting, 
for it is one of the plants that are 
almost entirely indebted to birds 
for their distribution. The sticky 
. berries are a favourite food of 
thrushes, which drop the seeds 
casually about when they sit down 
to rest. Part of the sticky berry 
is still sure to adhere to them, 
and if the bird was sitting on the 
branch of a tree, the seed will 
soon be anchored in some crevice 
of the bark. After .a time a 
modified root, called a sinker, drives 
its way down until it gets to some 
cells with sap running through 
them. After that the growth is slow but steady. The 
main root runs along the top of the branch and sends 
down sinker after sinker, which go down like the teeth 
of a rake, gripping the bough in defiance of winter storms. 
Even if the main bush be cut off, these sinkers have 
energy enough to send out fresh shoots, and it is no easy 
matter to get the mistletoe out of an orchard in which it 
has once become established. 
The commonest pure parasite in England is the Dodder, 
which, in various species, may be found in the later 
summer almost everywhere. The most frequent is perhaps 
the Clover Dodder. If you walk over a clover-field in 
MISTLETOE, 
