THE MISTLKTOK FAMILV. 



US 



into the petiole; entire; leather-like; yellowish green, smooth. A branching 

 shrub, mostly glabrous with very brittle twigs at the base. 



ERHAPS in the golden sunlight of an autumn day the 



mystic mistletoe appears the more beautiful as strong lights 



play through, and lighten its yellowish green foliage. As 



t is parasitic on deciduous-leaved trees it has at this season 



a dusky background which throws it strongly into 



prominence. So vigorous is often its growth on the 



trees that it hangs from their boughs in large bunches. 



From the oaks, gums and red maple it displays first 



its insignificant bloom and later its little pearl-like 



berry. 



Going slowly along the St. John's river, where fairly 

 it mantles many of the trees, the yellow tint of its 

 foliage could be seen from a long distance. It, and 

 the water hyacinth, seemed to be the only plants that 

 were known by name to the purser of the boat we 

 journeyed on, although he had gone up and down the 

 river for eighteen years, and he took the greatest 

 delight in pointing it out over and over again to the passengers. The very 

 name " mistletoe " had for him some potent charm. 



In European lore the mistletoe is one of the plants that has been looked 

 upon as an embodiment of lightning, probably because its branch is forked, 

 and in almost every country it has had ascribed to it virtue of various sorts. 

 As a cure for epilepsy and nightmare, a protection against sorcery, it has 

 among innumerable other things been much revered. Its parasitic growth 

 proclaimed it to be of divine origin ; the missil-bird, or again the mistletoe 

 thrush, at the direct instigation of the gods being believed to have first 

 deposited its seeds on the branches of trees. 



THE SANDALWOOD FAMILY. 



Saiitalaccce. 



hi our range embrncvig a group of parasitic shrubs^ or herbs ivith 

 simple, entire, exs'ipi(lalt\ alternate, or opposite leai'es and most/y greenis//, 

 perfect or imperfect flowers. Petals : none. Prnit : a nut or i/rupe, con- 

 taining one seed. 



