LORANTHACE^E. I. VISCUM. 



403 



1 cell. Seed solitary, heart-shaped, compressed, sometimes with 

 a double embryo. Parasitical on trees, shrubby, branched, all 

 smooth except one species, pale green. Branches terete, tetra- 

 gonal, or compressed, usually jointed. Leaves opposite, very 

 rarely alternate, simple, undivided, entire, rigid, sometimes 

 wanting or reduced to scales. Flowers in fascicles or spikes, 

 greenish. Berries of various colours. Concerning the very 

 singular germination of Fiscum, see Malpighi, oper. 140. fig. 

 105. Duham. phys. arb. vol. 2. p. 220. liv. 5. t. 1. f. 2-10. 



1. Plants with true leaves. Flowers in fascicles or umbels. 



1 V. A'LBUM(Lin. spec. 1451.) FIG. 73. 

 stem much branched, forked : 



with sessile, intermediate heads, 

 of about 5 flowers ; branches 

 terete ; leaves obovate-lanceo- 

 late, obtuse, nerveless, fj . P. H. 

 Native of Europe, parasitical on 

 trees, especially on the apple- 

 tree and hawthorn ; but it is 

 said also to have been found 

 growing on the lime-tree, oak, 

 American locust-tree, elm, fir, 

 pear-tree, service, almond, white 

 willow, walnut, &c. Smith, 

 engl. bot. t. 1470. Mill. fig. 

 87. Woodv. suppl. t. 270. 



Duham. arb. 2. t. 104. Rich. ann. mus. 12. t. 27. Fuschs. 

 hist. 329. t. 1817. Cam. epit. 555. with a figure. V. album 

 of Thunb. and Walt, are distinct from this. Root hard, incor- 

 porated deep with the wood of the tree on which it grows, 

 without any radicles, as in all the other species of this genus, as 

 well as of Lordnlhus and the allied genera. Leaves permanent, 

 stiff, with parallel ribs. Flowers yellowish. Berries white, 

 pellucid, the size of a currant, sweet, very glutinous internally, 

 serving to make the best bird-lime, when boiled with a small 

 portion of vegetable oil. Lordnlhus Europceus seems to be the 

 original and most common mistletoe, Oi^og of the Greeks, which 

 grows usually on some kind of fir-tree. But our V. album is some- 

 times found in Greece, though rarely, growing on the oak ; and 

 this has been preferred from the most remote antiquity. Hence, 

 when the superstitions of the East travelled westward, our 

 Druids adopted a notion of the mistletoe of the oak being more 

 holy or efficacious in conjurations or medicine, than what any 

 other tree afforded, the Loranthus or ordinary mistletoe not being 

 known here. This superstition actually remains, and a plant of 

 Viscum from an oak is preferred by those who rely on virtues, 

 which perhaps never existed in any mistletoe whatever, The 

 Druids sent round their attendant youths with branches of mistle- 

 toe to announce the entrance of the new year ; and something 

 like the same custom is still continued in France. In England 

 branches of it are hung up in most houses at Christmas, along 

 with other evergreens. The berries are devoured by several 

 birds of the thrush kind, and especially by the mistletoe thrush. 

 The common mistletoe is not difficult to propagate by sticking 

 the berries on thorn or apple trees, after a little of the outer 

 bark has been cut off, and tying a shred of mat over them, to 

 protect them from the birds. 



White-berried or Common Mistletoe. Fl. May. Britain. 

 Shrub par. 



2 V. STELLA TUM (Hamilt. in D. Don, prod. fl. nep. 142.) 

 much branched ; branches whorlecl, terete ; leaves oblong, ob- 

 tuse, attenuated at the base, 5-nerved beneath ; flowers terminal, 

 sessile, 3-5-together in a cluster. Jj . P. H. Native of Upper 

 Nipaul, at Suembu, parasitical on trees. Habit of V. Album. 

 Nerves of leaves acutely prominent on the under surface, but 



line-formed on the upper surface. The branches are more likely 

 dichotomous or trichotomous than verticillate. 

 Starry Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 



3 V. ORIENTA'LE (Willd. spec. 4. p. 737.) branches terete ; 

 leaves oblong, obtuse, attenuated at the base, 3-nerved ; pe- 

 duncles axillary, usually 3-flowered. Tj . P. S. Native of the 

 East Indies (ex Wall.), and of Java, on the mountains (ex Blum, 

 bijdr. 666.), and of Palestine upon olive trees, ex Sieb. pi. exsic. 

 pal. Leaves 15-18 lines long, but in the Palestine specimen-, 

 20-23 lines long. Berries purple, ex Wall. Perhaps the Indian 

 plant is the same as the Palestine one. 



Eastern Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 



4 V. HEYNEA'NUM (D. C. prod. 4. p. 278.) branches terete ; 

 branchlets rather compressed ; leaves ovate, acute at both ends, 

 quintuple-nerved ; peduncles axillary, aggregate, 3-flowered. 



Jj . P. S. Native of the East Indies, where it was collected by 

 Heyne. V. orientale, Heyne, herb, ex Wall, and probably of 

 Willd. The form of the leaves is truly different from the Pa- 

 lestine form of V. orientale, but more of the figure of those of 

 V. monoicum. 



Heyne' s Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 



5 V. MONOICUM (Roxb. hort. beng. p. 105.) branches terete, 

 jointed : branchlets striated ; leaves elliptic-oblong, acuminated 

 at both ends, 5-nerved : the 2 lateral nerves hardly conspicuous ; 

 fascicles axillary, very short, few-flowered, somewhat spicate. 



I? . P. S. Native of the East Indies, at Sunderbund. 

 Monoecious Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 



6 V. FALCA'TUM (Wall. cat. no. 492.) branches terete ; leaves 

 elliptic-oblong, acuminated, rather falcate, acute at the base, 5- 

 nerved ; fascicles of flowers axillary, aggregate, sessile, usually 

 with only 3 flowers in each cluster. Tj . P. S. Native of the 

 East Indies, on the Pundua mountains. Leaves 24-27 lines long, 

 and 9-10 broad. Flowers very small. 



.Falcate-leaved Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 



7 V. OVALIFOLIUM (Wall. cat. no. 489.) branches terete ; leaves 

 oval, obtuse, 5-nerved, narrowed into the short petioles at the 

 base; flowers some of them in axillary sessile fascicles, and others 

 are opposite, and somewhat verticillate, along an axillary rachis, 

 disposed in an interrupted spike. Tj . P. S. Native of the East 

 Indies, in the island of Penang. Leaves 3 inches long, and li 

 broad. Rachis not articulated. Berry oval. 



Oval-leaved Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 



8 V. OBTUSA'TUM (Wall. cat. no. 494.) branches terete ; leaves 

 oval, obtuse, somewhat cuneated, 5-nerved ; flowers axillary, 

 1 -3- together, almost sessile. I? . P. S. Native of the East 

 Indies, in the kingdom of Ava, on Mount Taong-Dong. Leaves 

 30 lines long, and 15 lines broad. Flowers small. Berries 

 oval. Lateral nerves of leaves slender. 



Bluntish-leaveA Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 



9 V. HETERA'NTHUM (Wall. cat. no. 488.) branches angular, 

 at length terete ; leaves elliptic, obtuse, cuneated at the base, 

 5-nerved beneath ; peduncles axillary, 2-5-together, equal in 

 length to the petioles, capitate at the apex, 5-6-flowered, bear- 

 ing 3-5 involucrate bracteas. fj . P. S. Native of Nipaul. 

 Berries ovate-globose, solitary in each head, surrounded by the 

 small permanent bracteas. Flowers 5-cleft, one central, the 

 rest disposed in a whorl around the central one, all sessile on the 

 top of the common peduncle. 



Variable-flowered Mistletoe. Shrub parasitical. 



10 V. PLATYPHY'LLUM (Spreng. cur. post. 47.) branches alter- 

 nate, angular ; leaves alternate, ovate or obovate, petiolate, 

 attenuated at the base, nerved beneath ; umbellules usually of 4 

 flowers, dispersed, pedunculate, solitary or aggregate : involucels 

 5-cleft, permanent. Jj . P. G. Native of Nipaul, at Bimpedi. 

 V. latifolium, Hamilt. in D. Don, prod. fl. nep. p. 142. but not 

 of others. 



SF 2 



