Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1897-12-23
"Peace on earth,
Good will to men,"
THE MISTLETOE.
Lore of the Little Plant So Popular at
Chrlstmastide.

Chrlstmastlde.
A most quaint and charming little
plant to study is the mistletoe. It is
an evergreen. We seldom see it, or
hear much about it, save at Christmas
time. The reason Of this is that where
it lives and thrives and grows it BIOS
SONS in February and March, and the
berries are ripe and the foliage is in
all it's glory, it's best dress, in the fol-
lowing December, when it is imported
and used to decorate our homes and
add to the holiday cheer.
This strange little plant is a native
of most of the tropical parts of Eu-
rope. Half a dozen varieties grow in
this country, but as they are not
marked by the same peculiarities as
their foreign relatives, they are called
by different name, though they all
belong to the same family. Some va
rieties have very snowy flowers.
The modest, though widely known,
little shrub we call the mistletoe grows
mostly in Normandy, border portion
of France, upon the trees of the extern
sive apple orchards. In the cider dis
tricts it is locked upon as a great pest,
for, once established, it draws the
sustenance as long as there is any life
in it's host. 1t is succulent when young,
| but becomes woody as it grows older.
1t often attaches itself, too, to the oak,
and then is supposed by the peasants
to possess magical power and to bestow
wonderful strength.
The mistletoe does not grow in Ire
land or Scotland or the north of Eng
| land, and often there young apple
trees With the queer little plant graft
ed and growing upon them are sold as
a curiosity, freak of nature, to turn
an honest Tor dishonesty penny"
In olden times the mistletoe was
! called All-heal. The tree upon which
it grew was believed to be chosen of
God, was looked upon with veneration
and awe, and the curious little plant
was considered an antidote to all dis,
eases. Even at the present day in Swe-
den all ailments are believed to be
warded off by wearing ring made of
| its wood.
| The berries of the mistletoe are of
creamy white, about the size of small
Currants, and grow in clusters in the
divisions of the little branches. The
leaves are long, ovate, waxy and of a
delicate green. often almost yellow.
Birds are very fond of the berries,
| and by them the seeds are carried
from place to place, and thus the plant
is pyopagated. The berries contain a
thick, viscous fluid; they burst open
when ripe, and SO they readily adhere
| to the trees and shrubs where they
chance to fall There they terminate
and take root and draw their nourish-
| ment, not from the earth as other
plants do, but from some other
growth. So it is parasite, not self
supporting, but living on something
else, and when the tree to which it is
fastened dies, then the dependent lit
| tie thing dies also.
| There is an old tradition that as
serts that long, long ago the m:stletoe
was big tree, nourished from mother
cross of our Saviour was made from
the wood: but after the cruciflXion it
was fated to be. not tree not even
shrub, but dependent-not even
to draw its life direct from the ground
itself. but to live upon some other
plant--doomed to be always para
site.
The weird tales and fanciful stories
of the poor little mistletoe have stirred
young hearts and interested older ones
by their mystical associations from
far, far back in the long ago, when
"The mistletoe hung in the castle hall,
The holly branch shone on the old oak
wall"
Truly a quaint and queer little plant
| is the mistletoe.
KATHRINE ARMSTRONG.