THE MISTLETOE. 



BY THOS. W. DALTRY, M.A. 



THE MISTLETOE, or viscum album, as it is called in science, 

 is a plant full of interest to all, both from its well-known 

 Christmas associations and from its own peculiar habits 

 and growth. In a grave assembly of naturalists like the 

 present, the latter is of course the subject on which I 

 propose to address you this afternoon. 



The chief interest, then, of the mistletoe centres in this, 

 that it is the only true parasitic plant of the British Isles : 

 all the other so-called parasitic plants, such as the oro- 

 banches, the cuscutas, the lathroea, &c., are but semi- 

 parasitic, and indeed hardly so much as that, for these 

 all have their roots in the earth, although at the same 

 time always growing in and among the roots of those 

 trees and shrubs to which they are peculiar ; but the 

 mistletoe is a true parasite : it never has anything to do 

 with the soil except through the branches and roots of 

 the tree on which it occurs. 



The mistletoe is a dioecious plant, that is to say, the 

 stamens and pistils are contained in separate flowers, and 

 those flowers are on different plants, so that you will in 

 vain look for berries unless you have the male and female 

 plants within a reasonable distance of each other. The 

 root is thick and woody, growing deeply into the branch 



