240 TETRANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Viscum, 
Lesser Nettle. (Welsh : Danadlen leiaf. E.) On rubbish, cultivated 
ground, and road sides, common. A. July—Sept.* 
VISCUM.f Barren and fertile flowers on different plants. 
B. Calyx none : Blos.s. with four divisions or petals : 
Filam. none : Anthers sessile on the petals. 
F. Calyx a little bordered: Petals four, superior: 
Style none : Berry pulpy, one-celled, one-seeded: 
Seed heart-shaped. 
V. al'bum. Leaves spear-shaped, blunt: stem dichotomous ; heads of 
flowers axilliary. 
( E . Bot. 1470. E.)— Mill. III. — Sheldr. 20— Woodv. 270 — Blackw. 184— 
Kniph. 1— Fuchs. 329— Lon. i. 55. 2 — Matt. 806— Cam. Epit. 555 — Trag. 
949 —Dod. 82 6 — Lob. Ohs. 361. 1; Ic. i. 636. 2 —Ger. Em. 1350. 1 — Park. 
1393. 1 —Gars. 628— Ger. 1168. 1. 
( Stem very much branched, forked, and jointed ; cylindrical, smooth, pale 
greenish colour. Leaves the colour of the stem, opposite, tongue-shaped, 
very entire, smooth, coriaceous. Spikes sessile, few-flowered. Flowers 
yellowish green, inserted in a common fleshy receptacle. Berries the size 
of a pea, globular, pearly-white, filled with slimy, sweetish, juice. FI. 
Brit. E.) A singular parasitical evergreen. The barren plant op¬ 
posite to th e fertile one. Linn. The root insinuates its fibres into the 
woody substance of the tree on which it grows. 
White Missletoe. Missel. (Welsh: Uchelawg ; Pren awyr. E.) Most 
frequently on Apple trees; also on the Pear, Hawthorn, Service, Oak, 
Hazle, Maple, Ash, Lime, Willow, Elm, (White Beam, Quicken- 
Crab, and White Thorn. E.) Rarely on the Oak. Hunt. Evel. 
Very rare in the northern counties, growing only at Lithe, near 
Kendal. Mr. Gough. ’Woods at Meikleour. Mr. Murray. Hook. Scot. 
(On trees near Bedlington, Northumberland, the only station in the dis¬ 
trict. Mr. Winch. E.) In Worcestershire, Herefordshire, (and the more 
southern counties, very common both in orchards and hedge-row fruit 
trees. E.) S. May. I 
* The leaves are gathered, cat to pieces, and used as a stimulant in the food of young 
turkeys. Cows, horses, sheep, goats, and swine refuse it. Linn. 
t (iEol. jS/(jxof, tenacious ; from the adhesive property of the. berries, or plant. E.) 
X Birdlime may be made from the berries and from the bark. The misseltoe bird (hence 
denominated yiscivorus. E.) the fieldfare, and the thrush, eat the berries, the seeds of 
which pass through them unchanged, and adhere to the branches of trees, where they vege¬ 
tate. (And thus the vegetative power of some seeds is supposed to be nourished, first hav¬ 
ing undergone a kind of maceration in the stomach and intestines of birds ;—of those 
very animals which thus become peculiarly accessory to the increase of their own 
essential supplies. E.) Some authors observing that the roots are always inserted on the 
under side of the branches, deny this method of propagation ; but the rains will soon wash 
them into that situation. No art hath yet made these plants take root in the earth. Sheep 
eat it very greedily, and it is frequently cut off the trees for them in severe seasons. It is 
said to preserve them from the rot. Mr. Hollefear. (Cows are reported to have been 
seriously disordered by feeding on it, in a half dead state. E.) If the berries, when fully 
ripe, be rubbed on the smooth bark of almost any tree, (more certain if inserted beneath the 
bark. E.) they will adhere closely, and produce plants the following winter. In the 
garden of Mr. Collins, of Knaresborough, are many large plants of it produced in this man¬ 
ner on dwarf apple trees. Hunt. Evel. (A vegetable substance resembling caoutchouc, 
or elastic gum, may be extracted from several plants besides those most noted for its produc¬ 
tion in the Brazils ; and amongst others, from the Missletoe, by a process detailed in the 
