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European Mistletoe

viscum album

Description:

--Witches' Broom looks similar but is an abnormal growth of the tree caused by a fungus, but still will the name, not rarely, misaplied to this kind of structure-like parasitic plants --It is a hemi-parasitic shrub, which grows on the stems of other trees. It has stems 30–100 centimetres (12–39 in) long with dichotomous branching. The leaves are in opposite pairs, strap-shaped, entire, leathery textured, 2–8 centimetres (0.79–3.1 in) long , 0.8–2.5 centimetres (0.31–0.98 in) broad and are a yellowish-green in colour. This species is dioecious and the flowers are inconspicuous, yellowish-green, 2–3 millimetres (0.079–0.12 in) diameter. The fruit is a white or yellow berry containing one (very rarely several) seed embedded in the very sticky, glutinous fruit pulp --"mistletoe, the species originally so-named, and also known as European Mistletoe or Common Mistletoe to distinguish it from other related species"

Habitat:

It is native to Europe and western and southern Asia -- It is commonly found in the crowns of broad-leaved trees, particularly apple, lime, hawthorn and poplar --- after work i had seen those ball-like structures in the trees next to the road. I hoped they were : "witche's broom's" (taphrina betulina). This weekend i stood up early (winter: early dark - 17-17:30 utc/gmt), went to the place i saw them.On the way, i found some more (above specimen from 2 spottings and in at least 2 different tree- species). I took the pictures and hadn't doubt, the green leaves. At home,looking at the pictures and taking the books, i realized i had taken pictures from : Viscum (here just: "mistel". I still uplad them and hope the next time, real "witche's broom's" to see.!!!

Notes:

---Mistletoe has always attracted popular interest and has been surrounded by a number of myths and legends. In some countries it plays a part in Christmas festivities. Pliny recorded an ancient druidic belief that mistletoe collected from oaks had special qualities; the same theme is reprised in the popular Asterix comic books. In Norse myth, an arrow made of mistletoe was the only thing that was able to kill the god Balder. The goddess Frigg had asked all other things to vow not to hurt Balder, but she had ignored the mistletoe because it seemed too small to be dangerous

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3 Comments

craigwilliams
craigwilliams 12 years ago

Ha ha ha! I'd certainly rather use a nice shiny Prunus than a craggy spiny old Hawthorn.

AlexKonig
AlexKonig 12 years ago

that info, had i not found, thanks for the addition. oh, poor birds, we manufacture it, but unchanged the bark (wc- paper) could feel like "abrasive paper" at the rear end.

craigwilliams
craigwilliams 12 years ago

One of my favourite things about the winter is seeing balls of this amazing plant, suddenly revealed by the falling leaves of their hosts. I remember seeing some footage of how the seeds are dispersed. Birds eat the seeds but some of the viscose pulp remains after digestion and sticks to their bottom when they defecate. The only way they can rid themselves of this nuisance is to physically wipe their rear ends on a twig or branch, effectively depositing the seed right where it wants to be to germinate!

AlexKonig
Spotted by
AlexKonig

Limburg, Netherlands

Spotted on Nov 26, 2011
Submitted on Nov 27, 2011

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