(Vol. ii., pp. 163. 214.; Vol. iii., p. 192.)
From having been a diligent searcher for the mistletoe on the oak, I may be
allowed to make a few remarks upon the question. Is it ever found now on
other trees? Now, it not only occurs abundantly on other trees, but it is
exceedingly rare on the oak. This may be gathered from the following list,
in which numbers have been used to express comparative frequency, as near
as my observations enable me to form a judgment:--
_On Native Trees._
Apple (various sorts) 25
Poplar (mostly the black) 20
Whitethorn 10
Lime 4
Maple 3
Willow 2
OAK 1
_On Foreign Trees._
Sycamore 1
Robinia 1
From this it would appear that notwithstanding the BRITISH OAK grows
everywhere, it is at present only favoured by the companionship of the
mistletoe in equal ratio with two comparatively recently introduced trees.
Indeed such objection does this parasite manifest to the brave old tree,
even in his teens, that, notwithstanding a newly-planted line of mixed
trees will become speedily attacked by it, the oak is certain to be left in
his pride alone.
I have, however, seen the mistletoe on the oak in two instances during my
much wandering about amid country scenes, especially of Gloucester and
Worcester, two great mistletoe counties. One was pointed out to me by my
friend, Mr. Lees, from whom we may expect much valuable information on this
subject, in his forthcoming edition of the _Botanical Looker-out_--it was
on a young tree, perhaps of fifty years, in Eastnor Park, on the Malvern
chain. The other example is at Frampton-on-Severn, to which the President
of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club, T. B. L. Baker, Esq., and myself, were
taken by Mr. Clifford, of Frampton. The tree is full a century old, and the
branch, on which was a goodly bunch of the parasite, numbered somewhere
about forty years. That the plant is propagated by seeds there can, I
think, be but little doubt, as the seeds are so admirably adapted for the
peculiar circumstances under which alone they can propagate; and the want
of attention to the facts connected therewith, is probably the cause why
the propagation of the mistletoe by artificial means is usually a failure.
I should be inclined to think that the mistletoe never was abundant on the
oak; so that it may be that additional sanctity was conferred on the
_Viscum guerneum_ on account of its great rarity.