THE MISTLETOE AND PARASITIC PLANTS. 197 
Loranthacece. The plants of this order have articulated oppo- 
site branches, leaves without stipules, and flowers in which the 
pistils and stamens are usually separated. The calyx is adhe- 
rent to the ovary, with two bracts at its base, and the corolla 
consists of four or eight more or less united petals. The 
stamens are four or eight, opposite the petals. The ovary one- 
celled, with one erect ovule. 
On examining a branch of mistletoe in the hand, we observe 
the long spreading stems of a yellowish-green colour, with 
somewhat thick, fleshy, long-pointed leaves, having veins 
running evenly along their entire length, most evident on the 
under surface. In the axils of these leaves, or the angle from 
which they spring, as also at the point where the spreading 
stems meet, we see, in the autumn of the year, a minute flower- 
bud — insignificant enough to look at, but of such interest, when 
examined botanically and carefully, as to have afforded matter 
for elaborate and beautifully-illustrated papers, which are pre- 
served by the learned societies of this and other countries. 
These flowers are divided into staminiferous and pistiliferous 
ones (figs. 2 and 3) . The structure of these organs is very curious, 
and can scarcely be fully described in a few words, for authors 
differ as to the appropriate names and real functions of the 
parts. Schleiden, the great German botanist, supposes that the 
so-called male flowers consist of nothing but anthers; while 
Decaisne, of whose beautiful drawings in the Transactions of 
the Eoyal Society of Brussels we have, in a measure, availed 
ourselves, contends that the male flowers consist of four 
anthers grown to the surface of four calycine sepals. They 
grow on distinct plants from the female flowers, which are 
botanically the most interesting, as well as popularly, from 
the fact of their producing the beautiful white berries so 
characteristic of the mistletoe. The ovule at the base of the 
female flower does not appear at all until after the pollen has 
been shed from the anther in the male flower and has entered 
the little canal leading to the ovarium. Some weeks, or even 
months, after this has taken place, the little ovule or future seed 
makes its appearance, and, meeting with the pollen, commences 
to develop. At the same time, the viscous tissue, of which 
the fruit chiefly consists, begins to appear, and the tiny seeds 
are produced, which remain inclosed in their sticky, glutinous 
cradle until fully ripened and ready to reproduce their own 
kind. The fact of the ovule being produced after the pollen 
has exercised its influence is a curious deviation from the 
usual mode of development in plants. The structure of the 
woody tissue of the plant is also singular (fig. 4). Decaisne 
describes it, when young, as consisting of eight woody bundles 
surrounding a green pith (fig. 5); in these bundles are no spiral 
