ABSTRACT
In his Historia naturalis (Liber XVI, 95), Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) not only wrote of the way in which mistletoe was specially venerated by the Druids of Gaul, but also referred to the rarity of mistletoe-bearing oaks. To this day, Viscum album rarely grows on oaks (Quercus robur/petraea). Oak-grown mistletoe is however important in the range of anthroposophical mistletoe preparations, and special efforts have therefore been made in recent years to cultivate mistletoe on oaks. The aim was to ensure availability and quality of the pharmaceutical raw material in the long term. Problems that arose made it necessary to go deeply into mistletoe biology. They mainly concerned host tree resistance, soil conditions, interaction with the animal world, and mistletoe development.
