berries , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , Mistletoe , Other parasites , Science

Missouri Mistletoe looks European

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

Here’s a puzzler. Some background first – in the USA the native mistletoes are very different to our European Viscum album and, in multiple ways, inferior in appearance (branching, leaf shape, berry size etc) to ours. The species used at Christmas over there are mostly from the mistletoe genus Phoradendron, which do at least have evergreen leaves and white berries, they’re just not as good-looking!  (not to mention not being, actually, the genuine mistletoe of […]

auctions , berries , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Food and Drink , insects , Mistletoe , Orchard , Science

Invasive fruit-flies overwinter in mistletoe, with implications for fruit…

by: Jonathan BriggsPosted on:

The dependent insect fauna of our mistletoe, Viscum album, gradually changes with time. The mistletoe-dependent weevil Ixapion variegatum was unknown in Britain until 2000, and the mistletoe sap-sucker Hypseloecus visci unknown here until 2003.  And there many other insects that use mistletoe, as well as those specialists.  These broader species also change with time and one, an invasive species of fruitfly, has come in for special attention recently.  Studies have shown how widespread it now […]