Ii2 MISSELTOE. 



Description. — Misseltoe is a parasitic.il shrub, with a hard 

 ligneous root, firmly attached to the wood of the tree on which 

 it grows. The stem is firm, succulent, of a bright yellowish 

 green colour, from one to two feet in height, divided into nume- 

 rous dichotomous branches. The leaves are opposite, persist- 

 ent, obovate-lanceolate, obtuse, coriaceous, thick, with parallel 

 ribs, quite entire, of a light green colour. The flowers are 

 dioecious, disposed in sessile axillary heads, of about five 

 flowers : the male flowers have an obsolete calyx, a corolla of four 

 ovate petals, united at the base, each bearing a single compressed 

 sessile anther* ; the female flowers, which are very small, are 

 furnished with a calyx forming an obscure margin, a corolla of 

 four ovate, equal, deciduous petals, which are united at the 

 base, an inferior ovary crowned by the border of the calyx, and 

 a sessile, obtuse stigma. The fruit is a smooth, whitish, suc- 

 culent, globose berry, containing a solitary, cordate, compressed 

 seed. The seed has sometimes two, occasionally three em- 

 bryos. Plate 34, fig. 2, (a) head of male flowers ; (/>) head of 

 female flowers ; (c) female flow T er detached ; (d) seed denuded 

 of its integument. 



Misseltoe is parasitic chiefly on apple-trees, hence it is most 

 frequent in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and the south of 

 England. It is also found, though rarely, upon the oak, 

 hawthorn, service, pear-tree, lime-tree, walnut, willow, &c. 

 It flowers in May, and the berries ripen in October. 



Viscum is derived from the Greek ^0$, and that from the 

 Celtic gwid, the shrub, par excellence, so called because of 

 the superstitious veneration with which it was regarded by 

 the ancients. Misseltoe or Mistletoe, in Saxon, signifies bird- 

 lime shrub, and from its Latin name we have the term viscous. 



The germination of Misseltoe is very different from that of 

 most other plants. It is thus described by Duhamel : — " The 

 seeds of Misseltoe may be made to germinate upon stones, 

 pieces of dead wood, and even upon the ground ; but they never 

 take any increase, except upon trees. When the seed first 

 begins to sprout, it generally projects two or three radicles ter- 

 minated by a round body. The radicles gradually elongate, 



* The anther is broken up into a number of hollow cavities containing 

 pollen, and not regularly divided into lobes. 



