NATURAL HISTORY . OF THE MISTLETOE. 
305 
shade and obscurity. But the nodular masses of matter replete with juices at the 
base of Orobanche major, the succulent scales from which Lathr&a springs, and 
the nidiform bulbs of Listera , all denote that these plants, however auspicious their 
nature, require no foreign provision for their sustentation. It is very different 
with the Mistletoe, and apparently also with a little local pheenogamous plant, 
called Dodder ( Cuscuta ), which are, perhaps, the only true parasites among 
flowering plants known in Britain. Boleti, Polypori , and various other Fungi , 
are doubtless really parasitical, not only living upon, but often destroying the 
miserable victims exposed to their invasion. 
The Mistletoe ( Viscum album, Linn.) is a dioecious plant, of which the females 
seem to be by far the most numerous, producing, from their tetrandrous corolla 
and inferior ovary, a white globular viscid berry of one cell, containing one seed. 
The embryo is Dicotyledonous, but the coriaceous leaves with parallel veins, have 
certainly a very peculiar aspect, and both sides have the same uniform yellowish- 
green colour which distinguishes the smooth, jointed, round stem. When the 
embryo germinates, it generally produces two or more radicles, whose shape has 
been compared to that of a French horn, which, curiously enough, do not pro¬ 
gress downwards, as is common to the generality of plants, but, contrary to the 
law of gravitation, often push directly upwards, as is the case when one of the 
glutinous seeds is deposited on the under side of a branch ; and in other cases the 
direction of the radicle is always perpendicular to the axis of the branch. The 
provision of Nature for the increase and continuation of her offspring, is shown 
as much in the Mistletoe as in any other plant. Although its nature is dioecious, 
and consequently a plant standing alone might not produce any fruit, it is found 
that a single seed often nourishes two embryos, a brother and sister; and the 
gluten which envelops the seed furnishes nutriment to the young plants till they 
have penetrated with their sucker-like radicles, which are devoid of fibrils, into 
the sap-wood of the tree. As the Mistletoe derives no nutriment from the earth, 
and has therefore no necessity to fall to the ground, its dissemination is wisely 
entrusted to birds, who are tempted to feed on its white berries when other sup¬ 
plies fail, and in cleansing their bills upon the rind of various trees frequented by 
them, are sure to leave behind them a few of the clammy seeds to perpetuate the 
continuance of the parasite. It is not improbable also, that the seeds pass through 
the bodies of birds uninjured, as stated by old writers, and even benefited by the 
forward tendency thus given them to earlier germination. 
Birds of the Thrush family chiefly delight in the Mistletoe berries, especially 
the Fieldfares and Redwings; and as these generally fly in flocks, keeping in one 
line of direction, it is not unusual to see a corresponding line of Mistletoe-bushes 
ranging across the country for a long distance. I have followed such a line till 
its continuity was broken by a river, when I have almost invariably found that 
