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Nuytsia floribunda, the gorgeous Tree Mistletoe, or Cabbage Tree of Western 
Australia, is root-parasitic, and hence the enormous difficulty of transplanting this 
desirable plant. The same remarks applied to the allied shrub with sweet-scented 
flowers, Atkinsonia ligustrina, from the Blue Mountains. 
Let us turn to the Mistletoes. 
The Mistletoe of Europe is known to botanists as Viscum album; the commonest 
Mistletoes of New South Wales belong to the genus Loranthus. In Europe the plant is 
associated with festivity, particularly at Christmas time. 
In spite of all the danger that some bacteriologists say is concealed in the 
osculatory process, I am not aware that the popularity of the mistletoe shows any sign 
of diminishing, and trade in it amounts to a very considerable sum. It is largely imported 
into England from Normandy, and in North-western Europe is chiefly found on the. 
apple-tree. It, however, will grow on a very large number of trees. The greatest 
assoitment of mistletoe bearers I ever saw was in the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens, 
Dublin. 
It was an object of worship among the ancienb Britons the ancestors of many 
of us the Druids employing it in their rites ; and hence, it is supposed, was derived the use 
of Mistletoe in Christmas festivities. Tennyson, bearing in mind the Druidical ceremonies, 
speaks of it as " The sacred bush," and amongst the mystic people who invent the 
ridiculous " language of flowers," Mistletoe is supposed to represent the motto, " I 
surmount difficulties." Whoever first said so, and why, I do not know, although if it 
had been applied to Australian mistletoe I could have readily supplied a reason. 
The family of Mistletoes known to botanists as the natural order Loranthaceso 
consists of about 500 species, scattered over the greater part of the world, and divided 
into thirteen genera. The genus Viscum, consisting of about thirty species, and Loranthus 
of about 330, are the most important. Viscum occurs sparingly in Australia, though not 
in the form of V. album, the osculatory Mistletoe, but Loranthus is well developed here, 
and forms, in fact, what Australians well know, and, sooner or later, will know too well, 
as Mistletoe. The word Loranthus is derived from two Greek words, loron (a thong) 
and anthos (a flower) in allusion to the long linear form of the petals. Its seeds are 
embedded in a sweetish mucilage. In New South Wales I have records of Mistletoe 
affecting various species of Eucalyptus, Mulga, Yarran, and some other Wattles, various 
She-oaks (Casuarina), Native Cherry, Cypress Pine, the Wilga, the Whitewood, the 
Leopard Tree, Tea-trees, the Quandong, and a few other trees I need not mention, 
because I only know them by botanical names. 
In north-western New South Wales it is most commonly seen on Acacia, and in 
other parts it is most frequently observed on gum trees (Eucalyptus), because of the 
preponderance of the latter. It is usually to be observed in tufts, often pendulous from 
the branches, and is of a dull green, somewhat different to that of the tree on which it 
is found, though on others it affects a wonderful similarity called mimicry to the 
foliage of the host plant. 
