16 



NOTES ON THE REPRODUCTION AND GROWTH OF 

 MISTLETOE. 



BY THE KEY. R. BLIGHT. 



The Mistletoe, Viscum album, has a very strong claim on the students of 

 Botany from the fact that it is the sole English representative of that family of 

 Loranthacece, which affords so many genera of tropical parasitic plants and so 

 many objects of wonder and admiration to the traveller in tropical forests. But 

 it is the mystery connected with its parasitic growth which gives to it so peculiar 

 an interest to the Naturalist. "With these reasons for inquiry, I would claim 

 the indulgence of the members of the "Woolhope Club for an account of some 

 investigations into the life-history of this remarkable plant, which may most 

 certainly be regarded as one of the chief treasures of the Herefordshire Flora. 



The. Flower. — "The simplest form of flower is that in which only a few 

 foliar organs are converted into anthers, and between them the simple extremity 

 of the axis displays itself as the simplest form of leaf -bud. " (Schleiden, Principles 

 of Botany, 145). Uniting the pistiliferous and staminiferous flowers of the 

 dioecious mistletoe we obtain such an ideal flower. 



The epiphyllous stamens deserve especial notice for they afford an instance 

 of dehiscence by pores of a remarkable character, cross partitions forming several 

 septa. 



"Further, we may also notice with reference to the flower of Viscum, that 

 there is not any distinction or division of the axis as pedicel, from the axis as 

 seed bud. The axis terminates immediately in the flower, with a scarcely evident 

 rounding of the extremity, and all that gives it peculiar import to the seed 

 bud, namely, the formation of the embryo sac, as well as the subsequent 

 development of the embryo, is carried on in that part of the axis below the 

 flower, that is, in the pedicel." (Schleiden.) "The structure of the inferior 

 ovary of the Loranthacece has been much misunderstood. If cut across, there is 

 no cavity containing an ovule to be seen. This is owing to the circumstance 

 that the sides of the ovary are adherent to the solitary, erect, naked ovule, so 

 that no distinction between ovary and ovule is apparent." (Oliver.) 



According to Decaisne, the ovule is not formed until sLx weeks or two- 

 months after the fertilizing action of the pollen on the stigma. 



