Kissing Goodbye to Mistletoe? by Jonathan Briggs, 1999.

The results of the national survey of the 1990s, which aimed to find out whether mistletoe in Britain is in decline.

Contains distribution maps of mistletoe in Britain, and background information on mistletoe folklore, traditions and biology in the UK.

19 pages, published by Plantlife and the Botanical Society of the British Isles.

Availability currently limited - more information soon.

Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain by Ronald Hutton, 2009.

This is the most up-to-date scholarly work on Druids, and so is not technically a mistletoe book!

Professor Hutton is an acknowledged expert on druids, and the classical source that provide most of our information on them, and their beliefs.

This is a fairly technical book - 492 pages long. A book for the dedicated druid-watcher...

Available from Amazon at £28.50 or less with free delivery - click the link to the right:

Mistel: Arzneipflanze, Brauchtum, Kunstmotiv im Jugendstil by Hans and Helga Schmoll, 1986.

A German book, whose title roughly translates as "Mistletoe -in medicine, tradition and art nouveau".

The book outlines pharmaceutical research (for recent reviews of ths see below), but its primary attraction is the text, and spectacular illustrations, on cultural history and uses of mistletoe, particualrly in art nouveau.

Availability currently limited - more information soon.

Iscador: Mistletoe In Cancer Therapy, edited by Christine Murphy, 2001.

The use of mistletoe in complementary cancer therapy began in continental Europe, but is spreading to Britain and the US. This book describes the use of Iscador, one of the proprietary mistletoe products produced in Germany and Switzerland.

Most texts on this subject are in German, so this accessible English language book is a very helpful introduction for Engllish readers. 208 pages.

Available from Amazon at £12.74 or less with free delivery - click the link to the right:

Mistletoe: the Genus Viscum, edited by Arndt Bussing, 2000.

An academic book, detailing current research in the use and applications of mistletoe.

Like the Iscador book above, this is a useful source book for the English reader, as most of the research described is continental.

The book includes useful information on mistletoe biology too. 280 pages.

Not for the casual reader!

Available from Amazon at £77.90 or less with free delivery - click the link to the right:

Parasitic Flowering Plants by Henning S. Heide-Jorgensen, 2008.

This beautifully illustrated book covers all parasitic plant families, including the mistletoes, with notes on associated traditions.

It discusses how these parasites develop, the structure and function of their absorption organ (haustorium), and how they are pollinated and dispersed as well as their ecology, hosts, and evolution.

This is a technical book, though written mostly in non-technical language. 438 pages.

Available from Amazon at £84.65 or less with free delivery - click the link to the right:

Mistletoes of Africa by Roger Polhill and Delbert Wiens, 1998.

This handsome book is an authoritative account of the 280 mistletoe species in Africa, with identification keys, descriptions, distribution maps, line drawings and 140 colour photographs.

It includes sections on biology, haustorial structures and pollination mechanisms.

Another academic book, 371 pages long, and published by Kew.

Available from Amazon at £70.00 or less with free delivery - click the link to the right: