# Another tree identification thread - tree with globe-shaped branches **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2016, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300 "2016-07-19T10:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OleOneEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f14d63/32.png) [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/1 "2016-07-19T10:20:11Z")
When I was in Germany, I saw these weird trees - some of the branches were globe-shaped. Sadly, no picture. They were deciduous trees, and I mostly saw them in empty fields not in forests. I saw a few scattered here and there across Germany, but they were in highest concentration in and around Dresden. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/2 "2016-07-19T10:25:49Z")
Mistletoe? [http://the-arkansas-traveler.blogspot.com.au/2007\_03\_01\_archive.html?m=1](http://the-arkansas-traveler.blogspot.com.au/2007_03_01_archive.html?m=1) ---
**Author:** ![OleOneEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f14d63/32.png) [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/3 "2016-07-19T10:31:33Z")
Holy shit - thank you, that’s it! I’ve been hearing about mistletoe my whole life in Christmas carols, but had never seen it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/4 "2016-07-19T18:55:38Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Mistletoe? > > [The Arkansas Traveler: March 2007](http://the-arkansas-traveler.blogspot.com.au/2007_03_01_archive.html?m=1) Good call! I thought the OP might have been describing trees that had been pollarded (which can result in globular burls instead of branches. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/5 "2016-07-19T19:38:03Z")
> [@OleOneEye](#): > > Holy shit - thank you, that’s it! > > I’ve been hearing about mistletoe my whole life in Christmas carols, but had never seen it. Just so you know, the mistletoe is a parasite growing on a separate tree. Those aren’t globe shaped branches, those are the mistletoe plants themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/6 "2016-07-20T01:07:05Z")
I just did a Google image search for “Dresden globe trees”. I’ve never seen mistletoe either, so I was fascinated. ---
**Author:** ![OleOneEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f14d63/32.png) [@OleOneEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OleOneEye)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/7 "2016-07-20T07:49:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Just so you know, the mistletoe is a parasite growing on a separate tree. Those aren’t globe shaped branches, those are the mistletoe plants themselves. I didn’t get a close look any of the times I saw this phenomenon - I only saw it from a moving train/car. And I had no idea what mistletoe looked like - but the picture in the linked article is _exactly_ what I saw. It was driving me nuts the whole way across Germany - I had my cell phone at the ready to snap a picture, but apart from in Dresden, the affected trees were few and far between, and I never got anything usable. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/8 "2016-07-20T08:42:56Z")
Yep, as mentioned, mistletoe is a parasitic plant, and in Australia is becoming quite noxious as it’s not fussy which species it decides to invade. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-tree-identification-thread-tree-with-globe-shaped-branches/760300/9 "2016-07-20T16:09:59Z")
There are many different kinds of mistletoes, in several different families. The [European mistletoe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscum_album)is the one you would see in Germany. Mistletoes are classified as hemiparasites, because most of them retain green pigment and do at least some of their own photosynthesis, rather than getting all of their nutrients and water from the host plant.