Mistletoe on lime
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Mistletoe on lime by Robin Stott as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Mistletoe on lime
Image: © Robin Stott Taken: 8 Apr 2010
Sounds like a love potion or a deadly cocktail but this is a spectacular example of a plant that is parasitic "on a great variety of deciduous trees…mainly in S.England and W.Midlands." This is the most-affected lime tree in a row along Warwick Road Image The whitish berries "are rather poisonous but are eaten by the Mistle Thrush who then carries seeds to a new host." Mistletoe is alluded to in the title of 'The Golden Bough', a once famous but now discredited work of anthropology by Sir James Frazer.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.399032
Longitude
-1.517888