390 WINTER FLOWERS AND FRUITS. 



barrenness) to ensure an offspring as numerous as the spotless 

 berries produced by the plant itself. So that formerly it seems 

 to have been the exact converse of the dreaded Willow; for 

 while those that had lost their loves were conducted to that 

 hopeless barren tree^ or, at least, recommended to sojourn 

 beneath its shade, those damsels who were not in such an 

 unfortunate predicament were either merrily or strategetically 

 escorted to the Mistletoe, whose berries being pure white, of 

 course could not fail to intimate the bridal wreath and white 

 satin ribbon. Archdeacon Nares, who has written very learn- 

 edly on this subject, and seems to be a great friend to the 

 mystic rites of the Mistletoe, deprecates any unreasonable 

 resistance on the part of ladies taken to or caught under 

 the sacred plant; as he states that a non-performance of the 

 usual ceremonial brings in its train all the evils of old-maiden- 

 ism ^^ — whatever they may be. It appears that in the berries 

 of the plant alone resided its privilege ; one of these was to 

 be plucked at every salute, and various authorities insist that 

 when the last berry was plucked from the bush its potential 

 and venerated character ceased. 



The habit of the Mistletoe is very peculiar. Unlike the 

 Ivy, which like it grows upon trees, but derives support only, 

 and not nourishment, from that to which it has attached 

 itself, the Mistletoe is a true parasite, sucking the vitals of 

 its prop. It is doubtless planted by those members of the 

 feathered tribe, the mistle-thrush especially, which feed upon 

 its berries, the viscid juice causing the seeds to adhere to the 

 under side of the branches when brought in contact with them 

 by the birds in the process of cleaning their bills. . In this 

 position the seeds germinate, and the young plants insinuate 

 their root-point into the sap-wood of the tree, forming there, 

 instead of roots, in each case, an ever-active sucker, by means 



