190 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



p. 175. See also Mr. II. Bull's paper in Journ. of Bot., 1864, 

 p. 361, and Trans. Woolliope Nat. Field Club, No. 5, p. 59. 



Common Mistletoe. 



French, Gui Blanc. German, Weisser Mistel. 



Dr. Prior gives us the etymology of the common name of this well-known plant 



tliug : " Mistiltau, from 7)iistl, different, and tau, twig, being so unlike the tree upon 



which it grows." Other derivations have been given, such as the fact of the berries 

 formin" the favourite food of the mistle thrush. Others fancifully trace its origin to 

 a corruption of the Latin word viscum ; but the name occurs in all the northern 

 Teutonic languages, and in its original form Mistiltein, the Icelandic word, appears to 

 si^^nify simply a slender twig, alluding to the weakness and flexibility of the green stems. 

 The word occurs in the " Voluspa," in the account of the death of Balder. Balder having 

 dreamed that he should die, his mother Frigga exacted oaths from fire, water, iron, 

 trees and all existing things that she could think of, that they would not harm him. 

 When this was done, the Asen rejoiced themselves in throwing all manner of weapons 

 at him ; but nothing would hurt him. Loke being enraged, took the form of an old 

 woman, and asked Frigga if all things had sworn not to injure Balder. She replied, 

 " There is a slender one called Mistiltein, growing far to the west of Valhalla, which 

 seemed too young and feeble to demand an oath from." Then Loke resumed his shape, 

 and plucking up the shrub, returned with it to the hall of the Asen. There he saw 

 the blind Hoder standing apart without partaking of the sport, and Loke asked him 

 why he did not cast anything at Balder ? He replied that he was blind and weapon- 

 less. Loke said, " Come, do like the rest, pay honour to Balder, and throw this little 

 thin<y at him." Then Hoder took the Mistiltein, and Loke guiding his hand, hurled it 

 at Balder, who fell pierced through to the earth. In every point of view the Mistletoe 

 is a most interesting plant, whether we regard its history, associations, or its manner of 

 propagation and growth. Each one of these particulars has given rise to long and 

 learned discussions, and probably all that has to be known is not yet arrived at. We 

 ran but give the results of the most recent investigations made by naturalists, and leave 

 it for others to make further discoveries. 



The mode in which the Mistletoe establishes itself in the tissue of other plants is 

 very remarkable, and has been well described by De Candolle in his excellent " Physi- 

 ologic Vegotale." Old botanists believed that birds feeding upon the berries, and 

 getting their beaks surrounded with the viscous matter they contain, rubbed their 

 beaks against the branches to get rid of it, and thus introduced the seeds to their 

 resting-place. Paley, in his " Natural Theology," gives at gi-eat length his views of 

 the subject, and says : — " Of no other plant can it be said that the roots refuse to 

 shoot in the ground, and no other is known to possess this adhesive generative quality 

 when rubbed on the branches of trees." 



Careful botanists who have examined the process of growth in these plants from 

 their earliest stage, tell us that from whatever cause the seeds are brought in contact 

 with the wood of the tree on which they establish themselves, they adhere by means 

 of the glutinous substance in which they have been embedded, and which hardens into 

 a sort of transparent glue. Then two or three days after application the tiny radicle 

 may be seen pushing towards the support, whether it be on the under or upper sur- 

 face ; re.aching this point, it becomes enlarged and flattened. It now has the appear- 

 ance of a sucker, and by degrees penetrates the bark. This operation requires some 



