CCXIII. LOEANTHACE^l. 



721 



pous, often reduced to the nucleus or the embryonic sac, erect, solitary, or accom- 

 panied by 2 rudimentary ovules. BERRY 1-seeded. SEED erect; albumen fleshy, 

 copious. EMBRYO (often several) axile, or inserted in an excentric cavity of the 

 albumen, peripheric or lateral, clavate, straight or arched ; cotyledons somewhat fleshy, 

 obtuse, sometimes coherent ; radicle thick, superior. 



Arceuthobiura. 

 Lepidoceras. 



PRINCIPAL GENERA. 

 Loranthus. .Tupeia. 



Nuytsia. 



Loranthus. 



Viscuni. 

 Erythranthus. 



Loranthacece are closely allied to Santalacece : in both, besides the important analogy founded on 

 parasitism, the aestivation is valvate, the flower is isostemouous, the stamens are epigynous and opposite 

 to the sepals, the ovary is inferior and 1-celled, the ovule is reduced to the embryonic sac, the albumen is 

 fleshy, and the leaves are entire, coriaceous and exstipulate. Loranthacece also approach Proteacecc in the 

 valvate aestivation, isostemony, 1-celled ovary, &c. 



Loranthacece are mostly tropical, but some inhabit temperate and cool regions of the northern, and 

 still more of southern temperate latitudes. Three genera are represented in Europe : the Mistleto 

 ( Viscum album) lives principally on Apple-trees and Poplars, although it scarcely objects to any tree or 

 shrub, and even attaches itself to Loranthus europceus, which is itself parasitic on Oaks and Chesnuts. 

 Arceuthobium grows on the Juniper. The dissemination of Loranthacece is mostly effected by birds, which 

 feed on their berries, and drop on the trees the undigested seeds. In Arceuthobium the seed is projected 

 from the fruit by a peculiar contractile force. 



The fruit of Loranthacece contains Birdlime, a peculiar viscous, tenacious and elastic substance, 

 between resin and india-rubber ; it exists in other plants (Elolly), but that of Loranthacece, and especially 

 of Viscum album and Loranthus albus, is the best. Its abundance defends on the stock on which the 

 Mistleto grows. The most suitable are the Maple and Elm, next the Birch and Service, and then the 

 Apple and Pear, &c. 



Many species of Loranthus are used medicinally by the Brazilians, who prepare with the young 

 shoots and leaves of L. dtrocolus an ointment much praised as a cure of oedematous tumours ; L. ylobosiw, 

 elasticus, and longiflorus are similarly used in India. L. bicolor is a reputed antisyphilitic. The leaves of 

 L. rotundifolius, cooked in milk, are recommended in Brazil for diseases of the chest. The leaves of the 

 Mistleto, formerly used as antispasmodics and antiepileptics, have long fallen into disuse. This plant 

 was worshipped by the ancient Gauls, who saw a mysterious emblem in a shrub vegetating and 

 propagating its kind without touching the earth. When gathered from the Oak it was held sacred by the 

 Druids. 



INTERMEDIATE GENUS. 

 HYSODENDRON, Banks. 



idron pundulalum. 3 plant. 



Mysodendron. 

 Flower, entire and cut vertically (mag.). 



3 A 



platt. 



