392 LXV. LORANTHACE.E. [Viscum* 



1. VISCUM, Linn. 



Glabrous shrubs with trichotomous or dichotomous branches. Leavea 

 opposite or wanting. Flowers minute, dioicous or monoicous. Male fl. : 

 perianth 3-4-fid, anthers adnate to the perianth-lobes, multilocellate, de- 

 hiscing by pores on the inner face.- Female fl. : perianth 3-4-lobed, lobea 

 deciduous or persistent. Style short or 0. 



Leaves flat, conspicuous ; perianth-segments deciduous. 



Flowers dioicous ; berries white . . . . . .1. V. album. 



Flowers monoicous ; berries dark-coloured. 



Berry ovoid-oblong, smooth ; leaves falcate or obliquely 



ovate, acute ... . ... . 2. V. monoicwntt 



Berry subglobose, warty or with minute elevated dots ; 



leaves obovate, obtuse 3. V. orientate. 



Leaves wanting ; branches flat, jointed. 



Joints cuneate ; berries minute ; perianth - segments per- 

 sistent . . . 4. V. artkulatum. 



Joints linear ; berries in. diam. ; perianth - segments 



deciduous 5. V. attenuatum. 



1. V. album, Linn.; Hook. Stud. Fl. 324. Syn. V. stellatum, Don 

 Fl. Nep. 142 (probably). Mistletoe. Vern. Turapdni, Afg. ; Bhangra, 

 bdnda, bambal, kakbang, ahalu, walial, rene, reori, reng, Pb. ; Ban, bdnda, 

 N.W.P. 



A rounded, very ramous, yellowish-green shrub, about 2-3 ft. diam., 

 wholly glabrous. Stems terete, branches jointed, dichotomous. Leaves 

 flat, cuneate-oblong or oblanceolate, apex rounded, about 2 in. long, with 

 3-5 indistinct longitudinal nerves. Flowers dioicous, sessile, in clusters of 

 3 or 5, in the bifurcations of branches, enclosed in fleshy, slightly ciliate 

 concave bracts, the terminal flower solitary in a cup- shaped bract, the 

 lateral flowers in pairs (at right angles in the case of 5 fl.), each pair in- 

 cluded in an elongated concave bract, with rounded edges. Perianth-seg- 

 ments triangular, acute, thick, deciduous. Berry white, smooth, almost 

 transparent, subglobose, J in. diam. 



Afghanistan. Trans-Indus on the eastern slopes of the Suliman range at 

 3000-4000 ft. N.W. Himalaya from the Indus to Nepal, between 3500 and 

 9000 ft. Europe, Syria, Caucasus, Siberia, Amurland, Japan. Fl. March- 

 May ; fr. Sept. -Nov., often remaining long on the tree. The Mistletoe lives on 

 most trees (rare on Oak, and never on the Horse- and Sweet Chestnut) in 

 Europe. In the N.W". Himalaya it is chiefly found on the Apricot, Peach, 

 Pyrus variolosa, Crataegus Pyracantha, the Walnut, Elm, Alnus, Populus 

 nigra, less often on Pavia, the Pear, Olea cuspidata, Morus serrata, Salix, 

 Quercus Ilex (Afghanistan and Suliman range), and has once been found on 

 Oak in the N.W. Himalaya. In Lahoul it is used medicinally, and in Europe 

 bird-lime is made of the viscid pulp of the fruit. 



When the seed of the Mistletoe germinates, the roots penetrate the bark to 

 the surface of the wood, where they spread and are gradually enclosed by the 

 new layers of wood, and thus it comes to pass that the roots of Viscum (and 

 Loranthus) get embedded in the wood of the foster-plant. The tissue of para- 

 site and foster plants, however, remains always distinct. Branches infested with 

 these parasites swell out irregularly, are often twisted and deformed, and even- 



