{"id":1700,"date":"2014-12-02T09:41:08","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T09:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?p=1700"},"modified":"2014-12-02T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T09:41:08","slug":"day-2-botanical-advent-calendar-viscum-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/02\/day-2-botanical-advent-calendar-viscum-album\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 Botanical Advent Calendar – Day 2 – Viscum album"},"content":{"rendered":"

2nd December – Viscum album<\/em> (Mistletoe)<\/h3>\n

2nd day of #AdventBotany<\/a> – Viscum album<\/em> – another evergreen but this time more sinister. This hemi-parasitic plant grows on a range of broadleaved trees including apple, linden and oak. It has a long tradition in Druidic ritual and the Romans report the harvesting of the species from Quercus (oak) by celtic druids using a golden sickle. This poisonous plant contains the lectin viscumin which is similar to ricin. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

From the 16th century mistletoe became associated with kissing in some Christian cultures. In the photo below you can see part of the entry on Viscum<\/em> from Lyte’s ‘A niewe Herball’ published in 1578. This is the oldest book held by University of Reading<\/a> Herbarium.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Viscum<\/a>
Viscum album<\/i> in Lyte’s Herball of 1578<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the herbarium specimens of Viscum album we have a collection of correspondence and phtographs from the 1930s when UK botanists seemed keen to find this hemi-parasite on new hosts.<\/p>\n