MISTLETOE (Viscum album), a species of Viscum, of the family Loranthaceae (q.v.). The whole genus is parasitical, and contains about 20 species, widely distributed in the warmer parts of the old world ; but only the mistletoe proper is a native of Europe. It forms an evergreen bush, about 4 ft. in length, thickly crowded with forking branches and opposite leaves, which are about 2 in. long, obovate-lanceolate in shape and yellowish-green; the dioecious flowers, which are small and nearly of the same colour but yellower, appear in February and March ; the white berry when ripe is filled with a viscous semi-transparent pulp (whence bird-lime is derived). The mistletoe is parasitic both on deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. In England it is most abundant on the apple-tree, but rarely found on the oak. Poplars, willows, lime, mountain-ash, maples, are favourite habitats. The fruit is eaten by most frugivorous birds, and through their agency the plant is propagated. The sowing is effected by the bird wiping its beak, to which the seeds adhere, against the bark of the tree on which it has alighted. The viscid pulp soon hardens, affording a protection to the seed ; in germination the sucker-root penetrates the bark, and a connection is established with the vascular tissue of the first plant. The plant is slow in growth but it is very persis
tent, its death being determined generally by that of the tree on which it has established itself. The mistletoe so extensively used in England at Christmas is largely derived from the apple orchards of Normandy, but some from the apple orchards of Herefordshire.
The American mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens), very simi lar to the European mistletoe, occurs on deciduous trees, espe cially on tupelo and red maple, from central New Jersey to Mis souri and southward to Florida, Texas and New Mexico. The larger western form (var. macrophyllunt), growing in bushy clumps 2 ft. to 8 ft. in diameter, is parasitic chiefly on poplars and willows from Texas to central California. The common mistletoe (P. villosum) of the Pacific coast occurs chiefly on oaks from Oregon to southern California and Arizona. Within the same range three other mistletoes are found: the cypress mistletoe (P. bolleana), with pearl-like berries; the juniper mistletoe (P. juni perinum), with scale-like leaves, growing on junipers and incense cedars; and the mesquite mistletoe (P. californicum), with slender, pendulous branches, parasitic on mesquite, creosote-bush and cat's-claw.