Mistletoe
This curious plant, which grows only as a parasite upon other trees, such as the apple and the oak, was a mystic plant in several ancient religions, notably that of the Celtic Druids: their priests cut the Mistletoe with much ceremony at certain seasons, and then only with a specially consecrated golden knife. Hislop suggests as a religious explanation that the Mistletoe being a Branch growing out of a Mother tree was worshipped as a Divine Branch out of an Earthly Tree, the union of deity and humanity. The name in German means “all heal”. Compare the Golden Branch in Virgil’s Æneid, Vi. 126: and Pliny, Hist. Nat., xvii. 4 “Sacerdos candida veste cultus arborem scandit, falce aurea demetit.” [w.w.w.] (TG).
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Shortly: This curious plant, which grows only as a parasite upon other trees, such as the apple and the oak, ...