26 THE OAK. 



the mistletoe, sacred in the legends of the North, 

 and the berries of which have been supposed to be 

 the "forbidden fruit." A good deal of uncer- 

 tainty exists with regard to the mistletoe of the 

 Druids. If so plentiful upon the oak as to allow 

 of the tree being regularly visited for the sake of 

 lopping branches, with the ceremonials which are 

 reported of it the white robes, the golden knife, 

 the hymns, and the procession then it would 

 almost appear that some other plant, and not what 

 we to-day call mistletoe, was the one in request. 

 For there are scarcely more than six or seven extant 

 examples of mistletoe growing upon the oak in this 

 country, and unless it were abundant, at all events in 

 some parts, it is difficult to see how the ritual could 

 be carried out, unless at long intervals, and almost 

 privately. The localities in which mistletoe is to-day 

 found upon the oak are at Eastnor, near Malvern ; 

 at Tedstone Delamere ; Dunsfold, Surrey ; near 

 Basingstoke ; near Plymouth ; and at Frampton.* 

 There is no reason why mistletoe should not grow 

 upon oak-trees to-day just as well and as luxuriantly 

 as it is said to have done in the days of the ancient 

 Britons. Perhaps the great sanctity ascribed to it 

 came of the very fact of it being so rare. At the 

 present day mistletoe is found chiefly upon apple- 



* For particulars, and an exhaustive account of the plant 

 and its associations, see Dr. Berthold Seeman's "Journal 

 of Botany," vol. ii., p. 361. 1864 



