Is it a shrub, is it a tree, no it's …

[Bryn]

... and whoever would have thought Eton or Windsor were infested with parasites!


.

A saprophyte, not a parasite. Interestingly, much (most?) of the Christmas misteltoe sold in the UK comes from France.

[vinteuil]

A saprophyte, not a parasite.

... I know that - but you don't need to spoil the fun. Besides, ain't it an obligate hemi-parasite?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscum_album

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[ardcarp]

Interestingly, much (most?) of the Christmas misteltoe sold in the UK comes from France.

...though there is a large Mistletoe Festival in Tenbury Wells, Worcs (not far from St Michaels. but in the town centre) where it is auctioned to shopkeepers and market traders in the run up to Christmas.

[Bryn]

...though there is a HUGE mistletoe market in Tenbury Wells, Worcs (not far from St Michaels. but in the town centre) where it is sold wholesale to shopkeepers and other market traders in the run up to Christmas.

Yes, the suggested reason for the copious imports from France is that of British reserve, them continentals being warmer blooded and thus having no need for the escuse of misteltoe.

[french frank]

A saprophyte, not a parasite.

Is it? That would imply that it fed on rotting vegetative matter, rather than healthy plants, wouldn't it? Or am I falling to a cunningly laid trap?

[Bryn]

Is it? That would imply that it fed on rotting vegetative matter, rather than healthy plants, wouldn't it? Or am I falling to a cunningly laid trap?

vinteuil's "hemi-parasite" was the correct designation. I should have known better. I was thinking back to undergrad ecology studies when I had a lecturer I knew to be unreliable at the time but have since learned he just did not know his subject. It was he who proclaimed mistletoe a saprophyte, defning the term as applying to organisms which used other living sustems somewhere between parasitism and symbiosis. It was this same lecturer who strongly advised that a stream we were surveying in the Brecon Beacons could not support dragon fly larvea. Sure enough they were there in number. Turned out the road alongside which it ran had been rebuilt a few years previously, includng the sub-base in which ballast of high calcium content has been used. He made a similar sort of mistake re. the absence of stoneflies in a low oxygen environment (too sweeping, a minoirity of stronefly species can lollerate quite low oxygen levels, and sure enough again we found such in a low oxygen pond within the very campus he was based at).

[french frank]

I should have known better. I was thinking back to undergrad ecology studies when I had a lecturer I knew to be unreliable at the time but have since learned he just did not know his subject.

Such teachers exist. Reader, I suspect I was one of them Such a huge quantity of stuff I didn't know compared with the tiny amount I knew

It was he who proclaimed mistletoe a saprophyte, defning the term as applying to organisms which used other living sustems somewhere between parasitism and symbiosis.

Knowing little of things scientific, I'm relieved that my classical studies were not an entire waste of time: σαπρός = rotten, diseased; ϕυτόν = plant, tree, growing thing.

So what is a neophyte? A new plant?

[Bryn]

Such teachers exist. Reader, I suspect I was one of them Such a huge quantity of stuff I didn't know compared with the tiny amount I knew



Knowing little of things scientific, I'm relieved that my classical studies were not an entire waste of time: σαπρός = rotten, diseased; ϕυτόν = plant, tree, growing thing.

So what is a neophyte? A new plant?

Nice one.

[oddoneout]

Some years ago a mistletoe 'planting' exercise was undertaken on the younger trees in the heritage varieties orchard at my workplace. It was successful - too much so as a few years later it was realised that the trees were not coping. The drastic pruning had a happy outcome however as the Victorian Christmas event was able to use it. Ways are now being considered to combine controlling it with further such uses or, even better, making some money.

[Anastasius]

Re ash dieback...perhaps one reason why it's not ventured as far North as Northumberland and Scotland is that it's got more sense than we had when we upped sticks from tropical Herefordshire two years ago. The weather up here is truly dire, they have nasty bitey insects the likes of which we'd never seen and the only thing that flourishes is verdant green luxurious moss.

[gradus]

Re ash dieback...perhaps one reason why it's not ventured as far North as Northumberland and Scotland is that it's got more sense than we had when we upped sticks from tropical Herefordshire two years ago. The weather up here is truly dire, they have nasty bitey insects the likes of which we'd never seen and the only thing that flourishes is verdant green luxurious moss.

Ever seen Bad Move?

[Anastasius]

Ever seen Bad Move?

Mandatory viewing ! At least we don't have that ghastly tree-hugging family

[Barbirollians]

Any update now FF's tree must be in full leaf ?

[french frank]

Any update now FF's tree must be in full leaf ?

Yes, it's grown 3 cms inside the past month (it's about 70cms high), is in full leaf and I'm waiting to see if it has any flower/fruit this year. The bad news is - I've found three more babies coming up between the flagstones. I don't think I'll nurture them in the same way (oh, all right, I've already potted up two of them ).

[french frank]

While I'm over here for a moment I can report that the 'weed' is now a sturdy 4ft 6ins and is coming into bud. Still hoping for a bit of flower to aid identification. I also have two new 2inch seedlings, which I think may be from the mountain ash. The original root stock sprang a couple of new branches with red berries (not white) last year, so it's possible a berry dropped into a nearby flowerpot. I transplanted them when I spotted them last summer and they survived the winter.