THE MISTLETOE-OAK OF LLANGATTOCK LINGOED. . 



BY DR. BULL. 



"■Est autan id rarwm admodum invent am, ct repertim rnagnd rdiyione 

 petibur," says Pliny (lib. xvi. c. 44) of Mistletoe on the oak, and it is as 

 rare in our time as formerly, though its discovery now is rather too late in the 

 world's history to make the sensation it would have done in Druidical times. 

 At our last meeting we visited the newly discovered Mistletoe-oak of the Forest 

 of Deerfold, the first that had been found for many years ; and I have now to 

 bring forward another example which I visited a few days since. 



Mistletoe grows on an oak tree at the Hendre, Langattock Lingoed, on an 

 estate belonging to Miss Davies, of Usk. The oak, Qucrcus scssilijtora, grows in 

 the hedgerow of a narrow coppice by a lane-side. It is probably not more than 

 80 years old, and at 5ft. from the ground it has a circumference of 4ft. 7in 

 The Mistletoe shoots out by a single stem from the underside of a branch 

 about the middle of the tree at four feet from the main trunk. It forms a thin 

 straggling bunch with long joints and drooping stems, and is not by any means 

 in vigorous healthy growlh. It was without fructification, but appeared to be 

 the female plant, Viscum album fcemina. 



It was first observed during the past winter by Mr. "Williams, of the 

 Pentre, but it has probably been there some six or eight years. It does not 

 seem at present to have affected the vitality of the branch of the oak on which 

 it grows. 



Tnis is the second known example of an existing mistletoe-oak in Monmouth- 

 shire. The other grows on a fine oak at Badham's Court, Sudbury Park, near 

 Chepstow, the property of Geo. Ormerod, Esq. There were formerly several 

 mistletoe-oaks in this county. Jesse, in his " Scenes and Tales of Country 

 Life," mentions three instances in Monmouthshire — one at St. Dials, near Mon- 

 mouth, another near L T sk, and the third at Penporthlenny Goitre. 



The St. Dials' mistletoe-oak was cut down by the bailiff about 17 years 

 ago, and the owner of the estate, Sir Lionel rilkington, dismissed the man 

 immediately for doing so (laughter). The oak which had borne mistletoe at Usk 

 was also cut down with its neighbours in a general fall of timber there about 

 ten years since. 



The fate of the Penporthlenny Goitre example is more sad still. " It was 

 most sacriligiously cut down about thirty years ago," says my informant, 



