Mistletoe

Funny stuff mistletoe. Except for hanging over Christmas stockings, I'd never seen it at all until I moved to Gloucestershire, and now I see it everywhere.

Some trees it doesn't seem to touch, and others there seems to be more mistletoe than tree, and that's not just species. I'd always thought (from what I'd read) that mistletoe grew on oaks, or sometimes apples. Well round here, it certainly likes apples, but I've not seen it yet on oaks. I have seen it on hawthorn, poplars and ash, but not oak or willow.

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Just before Christmas a couple of ne'er do wells rolled up here in a battered white van an announced that they were "Clearing the mistletoe out of the hedgerows" and did I want then to clear out mine?

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They must have thought I'd come up with the morning's mushrooms......

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It is interesting to look at.... it's got me quite fascinated.... but I'm not aware of any actual use for it (unless you count druidic fertility rites......).

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The Plants for the Future Database tells me that all its parts are slightly poisoness, and they rate it 1 out of 5 for usefulness.

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Ah well...... at least it looks pretty.