Now here’s a unique opportunity for mistletoe-lovers.   A leather umbrella stand, with a mistletoe motif.  What a wonderful concept. It’s obviously from Art Nouveau mistletoe design tradition – which is mostly continental (French and German) But in this case it’s (apparently) British (‘only available from Finnigans of New Bond St’). The must-have feature for any mistletoe-themed home.  An Ebay auction – which finishes tomorrow – so get your bids in!

The Druids worshipped mistletoe on oak.  Or so Pliny (23-79 AD) tells us, but no-one’s quite sure whether he knew what he was talking about. Nevertheless, mistletoe on oak has been regarded, ever since Pliny’s day, as something wondrous.  It’s very rare, and it was worshipped by the druids!   [Note to overseas readers – I’m talking here about the original, European, mistletoe, Viscum album – you may think mistletoe is rather common on oak near […]

Recently spent a few days in Cambridge area and, of course, took the opportunity to go mistletoe-spotting.  Cambridge is well outside mistletoe’s core range, but there’s a fair bit about if you know where to look – which we did as I took along a print-out of the old 1990s national survey data for the area as guidance. At this time of year mistletoe-spotting is easy – you just drive around and look for it […]

Have been out and about in local (Gloucestershire) apple orchards recently examining their mistletoe for signs of overwintering mistletoe insects.  Little is known about the biology of our six mistletoe specialist insects, and how they spend the winter, and how they emerge, is one of many mysteries.  I reviewed current knowledge on these insects, and challenged some of the assumptions being made about them, in a recent paper – which, if you’re interested,  is downloadable […]

Recent mistletoe news from New Zealand makes an interesting comparison to  mistletoe conservation concerns here in Britain.   Down there they’ve had several native mistletoe crises in recent years, last mentioned (briefly) in this blog way back in 2005. The news then was about mistletoe conservation efforts on North Island – where the problems were invasive weeds and over-browsing by possums.  Efforts seemed to largely be tree-planting and weed-clearing. The original news story is still available here. The more […]