The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1891-01-21
WHERE MISTLETOE GROWS
FLORIDA BLACKJACK FORESTS
FEsTooNED WITH 1T.

Florida deserves it's name of Gland
Of Flowers" not so much for the leauty
and luxuriance of its plant life as for the
strange and unique varieties of blooms
and blossoms that grow in the hummocks
and pine woods. 1t is the land of "air
plants" and every cypress tree presents
picturesque appearance, with the ''air
pines" moses, and wild specimens of
orchids clinging to the limbs and trunks
fifty feet above the ground, until they
look like the veritable hanging walls of
Babylon. Plants here, says letter from
Fort Mead, Fla, to the New York Times,
seem to thrive on AIR and moisture, soil
being a superhuous accompaniment, and
leaves plucked from the parent stem will
sprout and grow if they are nailed to the
side of the house or even hung up by
string.
But far more interesting than any of
these at the holiday season of theyear is the
famous mistletoe, which in the Southern
woods covers the br,hches of large trees so
as to..make them present the appearance of
magnificent evergreens. The novel effect
of these trees, covered with mistletoe, is
greatly heightened by the numerous trans
parent berries which brighten every
branch of the plant.
Florida divides itself up into several
kinds of landscape. The high hummock
land is the best for horticultural purposes; :;
low hummock land is good for gardening
If it is not covered over with water; high
pine land, rolling and fiat, is suitable fo1
orange and lemon groves, and, finally,
the black. jack land. This black jack is
aspecies of black oak, with such enormous
roots that forest of the trees will soon
drive out and kill every other kind OF
plant life. The soil in the forest of black
jack is good, but so much labor is re.
quired to grub out the big tap roots that
such land is rarely cleared for cultivation.
1t is on these black jacks that the mistle
toe abounds in certain sections of the
land. The plant is also found occasion
ally on the pine and cedar, and it has
been discovered in the South growing on
the persimmon and honey locust, but it
is on the oak family where it finds its best
growth.
The curious mistletoe is known only
in the North as it is sent fro m warmer
States, and its historical recollections,
the rich poetical and legendary illusions
concerning it, make it sort of plant to
be coveted every Christmas time. The
custom of hanging mistletoe boughs over
the hall door on Christmas Eve dates
back almost to the time of the Druids in
Britain, when the oaks covered with
mistletoe were consecrated in their eyes.
Yet a plant that grows wild here and is
in such universal demand has never been
cultivated with much success in North
ern hothouses.
Failures to transplant the mistletoe
have led to the belief that the seeds had
to be passed through the stomach of the
birds that feed on them in order to un-
dergo some chemical change preparatory
to termination. The seeds of the plant
are deposited by birds on the bark Of the
trunks and branches of trees, and the
rootlets which they send out insinuate
themselves though the crevices of the
bark and thus become incorporated with
the wood. Thrushes are among the prin-
cipal birds that help to disseminate the
seeds, and they may be seen gathering
the seeds almost any day. The viscous
nature of the seeds causes them to adhere
to the beak of birds, and in
order to get rid of them they
occasionally rub their beaks against
tree, thereby leaving some of
the seeds fixed to the bark, where they
stick fast and vegetate. They also,
when ripe, drop from the plant, and in
their descent sometimes come in contact
with other branches, and the viscous
matter causes them to adhere in like
manner till they germinate. New forests
of black jack will thus often be planted
with the mistletoe in this way, and after
the plants have once got a good start
they spread rapidly.
The young mistletoe plant seems read
lily to imbibe the ascending sap from the
wood of the tree upon which it grows,
and this it converts into a proper juice
adapted to nourish its own structure by
the aid of its leaves. 1t is sometimes
grated here on trees for ornamental pur-
poses, and it has been made to grow upon
the apple, pear, poplar and willow. After
the seed of the parasite is put on the bark
termination takes place il about two
months. The first appearance ,of the
plant is two horn-like processes (resem-
bling the horns of the common snaiD
rising from opposite sides of the seed.
They first shoot out straight, and after
ward recurve back till their cxtremities
touch the bark in opposite directions.
They remain in this position for the first
year, bent like bow, with one end fast
ened to the seed and the other to the
bark. 49,.
The second year the seeds -. from
the bark, whCn the seed leaves belonging
to each radicle separate, and each be-
comes a separate plant, whether there be
two or three, us sometimes occurs. The
plants are firmly established at this time,
but they do not make much growth un-
til the third year. Then they grow rapid
ly and begin covering the black jacks
with their green boughs, No prettier
sight can be imagined than a forest of
black jack covered with the bright mistle-
toe, hanging in great festoons and boughs
over the head, while the trees themselves
are perfectly leahess, The birds Of the
North, enjoying their brief Southern
trip, flock to the trees in numbers, where
they pluck the berries in grea; eagerness. !
Like Florida orange blossoms, many
of these mistletoe boughs are shipped to
the cities about the holidays to brighten
the inside Of the homes, and not few OF |