CHAP. Lxu. lorantha'ce.i:. ri'scuM. 1021 



Genus I. 



rrSCUM L. The Mistletoe. Lin. Syst. Monoe'cia, or DiceVia, 



Tetrandria. 



tdentification. Tourn. Inst., p. 609. ; Lin. Gen., No. 1105. ; Dec. Prod., 4. p. 277. ; Don's Mill., 2. 



p. 402. 

 Synonyjnes. IMisseldine, Gui, or Guy, Fr. ; Mistl, or Missel, Ger. ; Visco, or Vischio, Ital. ; Lega- 



modoga. Span. 

 Derivation. Viscus, or viscum, is the Latin for birdlime, which is made from the berries ; and 



Mistletoe is by some supposed to be derived from 7?iist, the German word for dung, or slimy dirt, 



and by others from mistelta, the Saxon name for the plant. 



Description. Parasitical shrubs, found on the trunks and branches of trees, 

 of which 76 species are described in Don's Miller; but only one is a native of 

 Europe, and this has its sexes dioecious. 



£ I. V. a'lbum L. The white-/n«7ed, 0?- coww^oh. Mistletoe. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1451. ; Dec. Prod., i. p. 277. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 403. 



Engravings. N. Du Ham., 1. t. 115. ; Eng. Bot, t. 1470. ; Baxt. Brit. PI., t. 40. ; and our^^. 771., 

 which exhibits a portion of a male plant, marked tii, and of a female plant in fruit, marked/. 



Spec. Char., <$-c. Stem much branched, forked ; with sessile intermediate 

 heads, of about 5 flowers. Branches terete. Leaves obovate-lanceolate, 

 obtuse, nerveless. {Dons Mill., iii. p. 403.) Parasitical both on deciduous 

 and evergreen trees and shrubs. 



Description. The mistletoe forms an evergreen bush, 

 pendent from the trunks and branches of trees, composed 

 of dichotomous shoots, opposite leaves, and yellow flowers, 

 which are succeeded by fruit, which is almost always white, 

 but of which there is said to be a variety with red fruit. 

 The plant is seldom more than 3 ft. or 4 ft. in diameter; it 

 is thickly crowded with branches and leaves. Their 

 growth is slow, seldom more than 2 in. or 3 in. of the 

 shoot, and two or three pairs of leaves, being produced 

 in a season. The leaves vary considerably in diflerent 

 plants, as may be seen in^g. 772., which contains engravings of three diflerent 

 specimens, sent to us by our esteemed friend, Mr. Baxter, curator of the Bo- 

 tanic Garden, Oxford; all reduced to the same scale of 2 in. to a foot. The 

 durability of the plant is proportionably great ; for, when once established on a 

 tree, it is seldom known to cease growing while the tree is in life ; but, when 

 it dies, or the branch on which it is rooted decays, or becomes diseased, the 

 death of the mistletoe immediately follows. 



Geography. The mistletoe is found throughout Europe, and in the colder 

 regions of Asia; and probably, also, of Africa and South America, though the 

 species found in these countries have other names. It is found in various 

 parts of England ; and it has also been discovered in one situation in Scot- 

 land (Meikleour); though it cannot be considered as truly indigenous there. 

 The trees on which the mistletoe grows belong to various natural orders; and, 

 indeed, it would be difficult to say on what dicotyledonous trees it will not 

 grow. In England, it is found on T^liaceae, yfceraceae, i?osaceas, Cupuliferas, 

 S'alicaceae, Oleaceae, and, we believe, also on Coniferae. At any rate, in the 

 neighbourhood of Magdeburg, it is growing in immense quantities on Pinus 

 sylvestris. In France, it grows on trees of all the natural orders mentioned, 

 but least frequently on the oak. It does not grow on the olive in France, 

 though it abounds on the almond. In Spain, it grows on the olive ; as it does 

 in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem ; and, in the latter locality, is found the 

 variety with red fruit, which is perhaps a Loranthus. In England, it is most 

 abundant on the apple tree, in the cider counties; but, in artificial plantations, 

 it is to be found on most of the trees of which they consist. It is abundant 



