Descriptive Flora 



197 



ribbed leaves that are conspicuously covered with white hairs. 

 Corolla lobes conspicuously white-membraneous and spreading. 

 Bracts very narrow, surpassing the calyx lobes. Found on the 

 limestone hills and hillsides of the Edward's Plateau. 



Plantago inflexa Morris. Plantain 

 Annuals similar to Heller's Plantain but with 5 to 7-ribbed 

 leaves and wide and membraneous margined bracts slightly sur- 

 passing the calyx lobes. Corolla lobes dark at base. Plants are 

 matted with white hairs when young. Grows in sand to the 

 south and east of San Antonio. 



LORANTHACEAE. Mistletoe Family. 



Phorandendron flavescens (Pursh.) Nutt. Mistletoe. 



Parasitic plants with the peculiar habit of forming bunches 

 of thick, greenish-yellow stems that hang on the branches of trees 

 and shrubs. Leaf-blades entire, 3-veined at base, thick. Blossoms 

 thick, yellowish green, inconspicuous spikes 1 to 2 inches long, 

 that develop into waxy white berries, the size of small peas, the 

 following winter. Flowers are minute, 3-cornered, yellow cups, 

 thickly set into 1 to 6 yellow bands at short intervals along the 

 thick spikes. Gathered at Christmas for decorations and eaten 

 by the small birds in January and February when food is scarce. 

 Parasitic largely on hackberry, mesquite, and cedar elm. Blos- 

 soms in February and March. 



The Mistletoe of legend is Viscum allum of the Old World, 

 similar to but not the Phoradendron of the Southern states. The 

 mistletoe was early associated with the Druid priests, who robed 

 in their white garments, went to the woods in winter, cut it with 

 their golden sickles and dropped it into white cloths. These ever- 

 greens were kept in their homes as refuges from cold for the 

 spirits of the woods. 



