Contributors to this page : Steve Tatler, Ashpretani, Bobcat
Descriptions
There are several hundred species with various types of leaf, blossom,
and fruits but the evergreen Viscum album is the only
variety that grows wild in Britain.
Mistletoe is a semi-parasitic plant that draws water and mineral salts
from its host but it also performs photosynthesis and produces carbohydrates.
Though thought to have been most sacred to the Druids when found growing
on oak, it very rarely grows on the oak. More commonly it is found on
apple, poplar and willow, and also on pine, pear, ash, hazel, maple, lime
and hawthorn.
Bark on young twigs is olive green or yellow-green and
glossy. Older wood is grey to greeny-grey. Leaves are
elongated ovals tapering to a wedge at the wood end. They are leathery
and tough with longditudinal veins. Mistletoe flowers
in March/April and flowers are yellowy-green and almost inconspicuous
huddled into the branch forks and leaf axis.
Generally hidden by the tree’s foliage throughout the year, mistletoe
is easier to find in winter when the berries of the female
plant ripen. The round white pseudo berries are about the size of a pea,
each containing one seed suspended in a slimy, sticky flesh which helps
the seeds to stick to branches where they germinate. Birds spread the
seeds by excreting them or wiping them from their beaks onto nearby branches.
Seedlings try to penetrate the bark and can develop into a plant if they
reach the wood and draw water from the tree. Mistletoe grows slowly, blossoming
at 5 to 6 years of age and taking 15 to 20 years to fully mature.
