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Viscum album
Viscum album is a species of mistletoe, the species originally so-named, and also known as European Mistletoe or Common Mistletoe to distinguish it from other related species. It is native to Europe, and western and southern Asia. Additional recommended knowledgeIt is a hemi-parasitic shrub, which grows on the stems of other trees. It has stems 30-100 cm long with dichotomous branching. The leaves are in opposite pairs, strap-shaped, entire, leathery textured, 2-8 cm long and 0.8-2.5 cm broad, yellowish-green in colour. Usually dioecious, the flowers are inconspicuous, yellowish-green, 2-3 mm diameter. The fruit is a white or yellow berry containing several seeds embedded in the very sticky, glutinous fruit pulp. Up to four subspecies are commonly accepted (Flora Europaea, Flora of China, Bean 1980, Blamey & Grey-Wilson 1989), and two others sometimes so. They differ in fruit colour, leaf shape and size, and most obviously in the host trees utilised.
Mythology and symbolismIt has always attracted interest and has been surrounded by a number of myths and legends. In some countries it plays a part in Christmas festivities. It also features in the popular Asterix comic books, where mistletoe collected from oaks was considered to have special qualities. References
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Viscum_album". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |