370 TRAXSACTIOXS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Labiat.e. — The Wild Thyme [Thymus serpyllum). — Shake- 

 speare says — 



" I know a bank wlicreon the wild tliyme grows," 



but it would be difficult to find a bank in Hampshire where it 

 does not grow, so plentiful is this small sweet-siuelling plant. 

 Lorantiiace^. — The Mistletoe ( Viscum album). 



" The mistletoe liung in the castle hall, 

 The holly hranch shone on the old oak wall ; 

 And the baron's retainers were blythe and gay, 

 And keeping their Christmas holiday." 



This plant is interesting on account of its being the only true 

 parasite which is a native of England. It is to be found in this 

 county on the apple-tree, hawthoi'n, maple {^Acer campestre), lime 

 (Tilia europceus), black poplar, white willow [Salix cdba), and 

 white-beam (Pyrus aria). The county also possesses one of the 

 few oaks in England on which the mistletoe gi'ows, namely, that 

 in Hackwood Park, near Basingstoke. A list of these oaks 

 appeared in the " Leisure Hour " in 1873. They numbered in 

 all fifteen, but to the list has to be added an oak in Clarendon 

 Park, near Salisbury, Wilts, making a total of sixteen trees. 



The mistletoe has of late years become of such marketable value 

 at Christmas time, that it is very difficult to preserve it from 

 depredators. 



