A Beautiful Thief 



The mistletoe has green leaves, and so is able to take car- 

 bon from the air, and to manufacture sugars and starches. But 

 it sends its roots into the bark of a tree, and draws its moisture and 

 part of its nourishment from the cambium layer and sap-wood of its 

 host. The seed of the mistletoe is covered with a very sticky 

 pulp (used sometimes for making bird-lime), which ad- 

 heres to anything it touches, and so is likely to find 

 appropriate lodgment on the trunk of a tree. 

 Should it fall to the ground instead, 

 its days are numbered. 



