Tree Tuesday ~ Mistletoe in a Tree

I have just returned to Manchester from a wedding weekend in Poland. While there, we noticed these balls in the trees. The leaves on the trees are just coming out but these are different - it's mistletoe.

It turns out that the cheery mistletoe we see at Christmas time is a parasitic plant, to be technical, an obligate hemiparasitic plant in the order Santalales. They grow on the host plant and extract water and nutrients from it.

There is also a vine growing up the tree.

I was without WiFi most of the weekend and I hope to resume my posting schedule. I have some real stories to tell!

References

Mistletoe

Images

Photo from the iPad of @kansuze.

@kansuze