OUR county is renowned for having large quantity of a nationally scarce and unusual plant, the mistletoe.

At this time of year when the trees are bare the mistletoe really stands out, its spherical clusters of leaves almost looking like very sparsely woven rooks' nests or squirrels' drays hanging from the branches of the trees.

The Severn and Teme valleys are particularly good places to see this plant growing, perhaps due to the slightly more damp and sheltered nature of the large river valleys.

Mistletoe will grow on almost any tree, and can even be found growing on ornamental cedars. However, there are some tree species it much prefers and apple is one of its favourites. Hence it is perhaps strange that pear, a very close relative of the apple, is one species that mistletoe is less frequently found.

We are all fairly familiar with mistletoe as it is frequently brought into homes as a Christmas decoration and we will all have seen its pale white berries.

It is impossible to propagate mistletoe by planting out these berries or as I have seen a friend previously do, as mistletoe is one of the few plant parasites.

The seeds of the mistletoe are contained within the white berries and are very sticky.

Despite the berries being poisonous to us humans, they are seen as a real feast by birds like the thrush and in particular the Mistle Thrush, who even may have got its name from its liking of the mistletoe.

The sticky nature of the berries encourages any bird which has consumed them to wipe the stickiness off by rubbing their beaks on a branches, leaving the odd seed stuck on behind.

The seed then germinates and sends out a root looking for any weaknesses in the bark. The root then penetrates into the living tissue of the branch where it feeds on the nutrients taken up by its host tree and a new mistletoe bush develops.

As well as our Christmas tradition, mistletoe has a long history of cultural associations.

One of the best known of these has to be the druids, who highly valued this plant, particularly when it was found growing on oak, not a common occurrence, and used it in their rituals.

The Norse tell tails of its use as the slayer demi gods, while the Celts valued it as a mystical cure all.

Herbalists over the years have value the plant's healing properties but are very wary of its potentially harmful poisonous properties.

In recent modern times, some of the component chemicals of mistletoe have been investigated for their potential medical uses.

One which is showing strong promise is as a potential drug for treatment of some forms of cancer.

11:55am Tuesday 29th January 2008

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