15 



REMARKABLE PLANTS IN DEERFOLD FOREST. 

 By Db. bull. 



Dr. Bull then said that he had recently had the pleasure of visiting 

 a very out of the way part of Herefordshire, the ancient Forest of Deerfold, 

 and he had the satisfaction to call their attention to some remarkable plants 

 he observed there. He would first mention 



THE MISTLETOE-OAK, OF DEERFOLD FOREST. 



This very interesting tree grows in the hedgerow of a field called "The 

 Harps" at Haven, Aymestry, in the ancient Forest of Deerfold, on the pro- 

 perty of the Messrs. Fortey. It was discovered about three months since, 

 but the mistletoe must have been growing upon the oak for some years. The 

 oak is of the variety sessiUfiora and may be some 50 or 60 years old. At 5 feet 

 from the ground it measures 5 feet 8 inches in girth. The mistletoe, vi^cum 

 album, fcem, grows high up in the oak on the main stem of the tree after it has 

 bifurcated. It forms a large wide spreading bunch with a diameter of 3 feet 

 6 inches, and springs out from the oak in a single stem nearly 4 inches in 

 circumference. 



The mistletoe is also growing on a thorn in the hedge immediately below 

 the bunch in the oak and has probably sprung from a seed dropped by the 

 birds from above. The great rarity of the growth of mistletoe on the 

 oak is proved by the fact that there axe but eight examples, which have been 

 well authenticated, as existing at the present time. They are as follows : — 



THE LIST OF EXISTING MISTLETOE-OAKS. 

 Eastnor Park, Herefordshire, 

 Tedsfcone Delamere, Herefordshire, 

 The Forest of Deerfold, Herefordshire, 

 Frampton-on-Sevem, Gloucestershire, 

 Sudbury Park, Chepstow, Monmouthshire, 

 Burningfold farm, Dunsfold, Surrey, 

 Hackwood Park, Basingstoke, Hampshire, 

 And on an oak near Plymouth. 



Full particulars have already been given in the Transactions of the Club of all 



