MISTLETOE. 



73 



and valleys of Normandy. But on the whole one is led to believe that no 

 great harm can arise from its growth. I would also suggest that in the 

 case of apple trees being too luxuriant mistletoe might be very beneficial 

 in drawing off the superabundant sap, and thus bring the tree into 

 fruitful condition. It might also act beneficially on trees affected with 

 canker, and, like the leech, draw away the poisoned sap from the 

 stricken tree. The fact that the sap circulates through the entire tree 

 backwards and forwards would also tend to show that it does not harm 

 the tree to any serious extent. On the whole I think the trees are 

 seldom much injured by it, and its beautiful yellowish green foliage and 

 soft pearl-like berries are very handsome during the barren season of 

 winter. 



A curious incident, showing that the berries if taken in large 

 quantities are not suitable food for birds, was told me some time ago by 

 a friend and naturalist. He had been walking in a garden about 

 Christmas time, when the mistletoe was covered with berries and looking 

 at its best, giving a beautiful display to the seeing eye. During the 

 evening the barometer fell, and a snowstorm came on, covering the 

 ground and trees with snow. On the following morning my friend 

 visited the same garden, and found that all the berries had disappeared, 

 and on looking closely at the foot of some of the trees found them in 

 clusters of eight to a dozen, all more or less burst, showing that they had 

 been swallowed by missel thrushes and other birds, and had acted as an 

 emetic, proving indigestible. The sexes are represented in the mistletoe 

 by different plants, one bearing the male and the other the female flowers. 

 The latter may readily be distinguished from the former, it being the 

 plant which produces the berries. It does not take very long to make 

 a clump in an orchard. There is one in this neighbourhood where mistle- 

 toe berries were attached to the trees some four years ago. In many cases 

 large clumps may now be seen. There is another shrub which appears 

 to be very akin to mistletoe, and which in the South of Europe is seen 

 very frequently on oak trees, and is called Loranthus europaeus. 

 L. odoratus is another species which is possessed of very fragrant flowers. 

 Also in America there are many different species which go under the 

 name of Phoradendron. 



The derivation of the word " mistletoe " is said to arise from the Anglo- 

 Saxon mistel=gloom f and Webster noted the Saxon word mistelta, and 

 states that it is a plant or shrub which grows in trees, and was held in 

 great veneration by the Druids ; but F. A. B. (Mrs. Boyle) in the 

 " Garden " notes that the Anglo-Saxon word must have meant " dropped," 

 namely, dropped by a bird on a tree, and thus propagated ; while some 

 modern writer translates "mist" into "glue," which seems to be the 

 most probable of all. The mistletoe tribe contains about four hundred 

 species, which mostly inhabit the tropical regions. One of these, named 

 Nuytsia floribunda, which grows in the neighbourhood of King George's 

 Sound, and bears an abundance of bright orange-coloured flowers, is said 

 to look like a tree on fire, from which it is called the " fire-tree." It is, 

 however, not a parasite like the majority of the species referred to. The 

 mistletoe is not now used, I believe, for medicinal purposes, but a species 

 of Loranthus is used in Chili as a dye. 



