| Mistletoe in Britain - Introduction | |||
Mistletoe is one of Britain's best-known, but least understood plants. Familiar to everyone at Christmas, and with a history in folklore and legend extending back to ancient times, relatively little seems to be known about this strange plant parasite in the UK. In mainland Europe it is a different story – as there has been much research on the species in Germany and Switzerland over many decades.
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We have just one species of mistletoe in Britain - Viscum album. The latin name refers to the berries - which are white (album) and contain a sticky viscous fluid (Viscum). Actually, to be botanically precise, only Viscum album subspecies platyspermum occurs in Britain – though other V album subspecies can be seen in continental Europe.
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The British distribution is rather unusual, centred in the south and west midlands, with particularly good populations in Herefordshire. This was first described by Dr H G Bull in an 1864 paper which analysed host species preference. He listed 30 host species for Herefordshire with a further 23 species in other counties but he emphasised that cultivated Apple, particularly in orchards, was by far the most frequent.
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Today the British host list stands at over 200 tree species, though apple is still the favourite, with Poplar and Lime close behind.
Mistletoe on Poplar |
Mistletoe on Lime |
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Mistletoe on Apple
