Page 18 - Jan Sun Rays
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CA NEWS
Mistletoe: Magic, Myth or Nuisance?
By Catrin Dubois, Landscape Superintendent
It is the time of the year when the Ce- leaves that are important for photosyn- peared, too - around a fifth of them, com-
dar Elms and hackberries have dropped thesis and, in extremely stressed trees, pared with what had previously existed
their leaves and the evergreen mistle- it can gradually contribute to tree de- within the culled patches. Conversely, in
toe is no longer able to hide among the cline and eventually death. However, it regions where mistletoe was left in place,
leaves. is important to understand that it takes the number of bird species increased.
a long time to see the kill; usually, the Compared with the species diversity in
MISTLETOE FOLKLORE affected trees are those that are already these patches when the final count was
declining. In my research, however, I made, the number of species in the culled
From the earliest times, mistletoe has found my negative opinion of this hemi- patches of woodland was down by about a
been one of the most magical, myste- parasite shifting. quarter. Mistletoe was thus deemed what
rious, and sacred plants of European ecologists call a “keystone species”: it sup-
folklore. It was considered to bestow life ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF ports an entire ecosystem, and removing
and fertility, protect against poison, and MISTLETOE REMOVAL it has drastic effects for the whole.
act as an aphrodisiac. In Scandinavian
folklore, mistletoe was considered a plant In a recent (2012) experiment conducted With birds spreading seeds from branch
of peace, under which enemies could de- in Australia, ecologists monitored bird to branch and tree to tree, removal of
clare a truce or warring spouses kiss populations following the removal of mistletoe from Sun City trees would
and make-up. mistletoe from select woodlands. The prove a costly, ceaseless task. So, while
results were intriguing. As would be ex- we continue to evaluate desirable hard-
EVIL, PARASITIC PLANT? pected, the one species that feeds almost wood trees and heed the actions advised
exclusively on mistletoe berries, the aptly- by our tree expert, keep in mind that, the
In reality, mistletoes are semi-parasitic named mistletoe bird, vanished from the next time you spot some mistletoe, you
seed plants that feed on trees and ob- culled woodlands. Species that make their may be looking at a plant which truly
tain water and mineral salts by sending nests in bunches of mistletoe also tended does foster life and fertility.
robot-like structures (haustoria) into to disappear. But lots of other birds disap-
vascular tissue of the inner bark. It can ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
rob the branches of nutrients, shade out
16 | SUNRAYS JANUARY 2016
