The little white berries necessary for a merry Christmas              Germinating mistletoe seedlings
 
 
History and uses
 
Much of what follows is from the excellent "Mistletoe Pages" website. Mistletoe was first recorded botanically by William Turner in 1538.1.  It was celebrated in legend by the ancient Greeks as the "golden bough" used by Aeneas to find his way to the abode of the dead.  It is such a mysterious plant that it isn't surprising that legends have built up around it. The Roman author Pliny told that mistletoe was valued by Druids, and had to be cut from an oak tree using a golden sickle without letting it touch the ground. This has little foundation in fact, but has been adopted into modern Druidry and is fixed in our imaginations.  Mistletoe is deeply embedded in Norse myth in which the goddess Friga extracted a promise from everything found on or growing in earth would never harm her popular son Baldur.  The nasty God Loki realised that mistletoe wasn't part of this pact, and duped Hod, the blind brother of Baldur into stabbing and killing him with it. Frigg's tears became its white berries, and the plant became a symbol of peace and reconciliation.2.  
 
As a winter solstice flowering plant, the early church, which did not like its pagan fertility associations could not stop it becoming associated with Christmas, and this has persisted with the tradition of "kissing under the mistletoe".  After its use for mild (consensual) sexual harassment, it should be kept indoors to ward off evil, until fresh mistletoe is brought in the following winter.
 
Mistletoe is mildly toxic, but has been considered to boost fertility.  It can be bought dried for making tea which is claimed to help lower blood pressure.  It has, not without great controversy, been claimed as a potential medication for cancer.  The only non-folklore historical use of the plant is to a component of bird-lime, a sticky concoction spread on branches to trap songbirds.
 
Mistletoe can be grown in your garden.  You can buy an already infected crabapple tree, or try to start a colony yourself using the guidance here from the RHS.
 
Associated species
Mistletoe berries are a winter food source for birds such as the mistle thrush, and for the winter visitors redwings and fieldfares.
 
Eight species of insect are mistletoe feeders, including the rare mistletoe marble moth Celypha woodiana and specialist mistletoe weevil Ixapion variegatum, a leaf miner that goes by ther vernacular name "kiss me slow weevil", after the popular use of its host plant.
 
 
References
1.  Pearman, D. The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland. 2017. BSBI, Bristol.  p425
 
2. The Mistletoe Pages 
 
3.  RHS guide to mistletoe growing  
 
 
 
Page written and compiled by Steve Head
 
 
Mistletoe Viscum album 
 
Family:     Santalaceae  Sandalwood family
Size:         Forms globe to 1m spread
Flowers:   February to April
Berries:    Winter
It's a bit of a contrivance to call mistletoe a climber, but it is only found up in trees and you do need to climb to collect it. Mostly found in southern and central England, mistletoe is a unique native plant with legendary historical connections.  It is a hemiparasite, meaning it can make its own food from its green leaves, but also derives water and nutrition from its host tree. Apple is the most common host tree in Britain and Ireland but it is also found on poplar. 
 
The plant is unmistakeable, forming a dense bush up to a metre in diameter within the host's branches, and the leaves are thick and simple in shape.  The fruit is a sticky white berry produced in small clusters. The pulp is very sticky, and birds attacking berries to get at the seeds get it stuck on their beaks.  When they wipe their beaks on another tree, seeds within the pulp are stuck on to a new host where they germinate.  The initially non-parasitic  seedlings produce special root structures called haustoria which burrow through the host’s bark and start to extract water and nutrients.
Mistletoe Viscum album 
 
Family:    Santalaceae  Sandalwood family
Size:         Forms globe to 1m spread
Flowers:   February to April
Berries:   Winter
It's a bit of a contrivance to call mistletoe a climber, but it only found up in trees and you do need to climb to collect it. Mostly found in southern and central England, mistletoe is a unique native plant with legendary historical connections.  It is a hemiparasite, meaning it can make its own food from its green leaves, but also derives water and nutrition from its host tree. Apple is the most common host tree in Britain and Ireland but it is also found on poplar. 
 
The plant is unmistakeable, forming a dense bush up to a metre in diameter within the host's branches, and the leaves are thick and simple in shape.  The fruit is a sticky white berry produced in small clusters. The pulp is very sticky, and birds attacking berries to get at the seeds get it stuck on their beaks.  When they wipe their beaks and another tree, seeds within the pulp are stuck on to a new host where they germinate.  The initially non-parasitic  seedlings produce special root structures called haustoria which burrow through the host’s bark and start to extract water and nutrients.
It's a bit of a contrivance to call mistletoe a climber, but it is only found up in trees and you do need to climb to collect it. Mostly found in southern and central England, mistletoe is a unique native plant with legendary historical connections.  It is a hemiparasite, meaning it can make its own food from its green leaves, but also derives water and nutrition from its host tree. Apple is the most common host tree in Britain and Ireland but it is also found on poplar. 
 
The plant is unmistakeable, forming a dense bush up to a metre in diameter within the host's branches, and the leaves are thick and simple in shape.  The fruit is a sticky white berry produced in small clusters. The pulp is very sticky, and birds attacking berries to get at the seeds get it stuck on their beaks.  When they wipe their beaks on another tree, seeds within the pulp are stuck on to a new host where they germinate.  The initially non-parasitic  seedlings produce special root structures called haustoria which burrow through the host’s bark and start to extract water and nutrients.
The little white berries necessary               Germinating mistletoe seedlings
         for a merry Christmas
 
History and uses
 
Much of what follows is from the excellent "Mistletoe Pages" website. Mistletoe was first recorded botanically by William Turner in 1538.1.  It was celebrated in legend by the ancient Greeks as the "golden bough" used by Aeneas to find his way to the abode of the dead.  It is such a mysterious plant that it isn't surprising that legends have built up around it. The Roman author Pliny told that mistletoe was valued by Druids, and had to be cut from an oak tree using a golden sickle without letting it touch the ground. This has little foundation in fact, but has been adopted into modern Druidry and is fixed in our imaginations.  Mistletoe is deeply embedded in Norse myth in which the goddess Friga extracted a promise from everything found on or growing in earth would never harm her popular son Baldur.  The nasty God Loki realised that mistletoe wasn't part of this pact, and duped Hod, the blind brother of Baldur into stabbing and killing him with it. Frigg's tears became its white berries, and the plant became a symbol of peace and reconciliation.2.  
 
As a winter solstice flowering plant, the early church, which did not like its pagan fertility associations could not stop it becoming associated with Christmas, and this has persisted with the tradition of "kissing under the mistletoe".  After its use for mild (consensual) sexual harassment, it should be kept indoors to ward off evil, until fresh mistletoe is brought in the following winter.
 
Mistletoe is mildly toxic, but has been considered to boost fertility.  It can be bought dried for making tea which is claimed to help lower blood pressure.  It has, not without great controversy, been claimed as a potential medication for cancer.  The only non-folklore historical use of the plant is to a component of bird-lime, a sticky concoction spread on branches to trap songbirds.
 
Mistletoe can be grown in your garden.  You can buy an already infected crabapple tree, or try to start a colony yourself using the guidance here from the RHS.
 
Associated species
Mistletoe berries are a winter food source for birds such as the mistle thrush, and for the winter visitors redwings and fieldfares.
 
Eight species of insect are mistletoe feeders, including the rare mistletoe marble moth Celypha woodiana and specialist mistletoe weevil Ixapion variegatum, a leaf miner that goes by ther vernacular name "kiss me slow weevil", after the popular use of its host plant.
 
 
References
1.  Pearman, D. The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland. 2017. BSBI, Bristol.  p425
 
2. The Mistletoe Pages 
 
3.  RHS guide to mistletoe growing  
 
 
Page drafted by Caroline Ware, compiled by Steve Head
 
 
Tiny mistletoe flower
       Garden Wildplants
             Garden Wildplants
  • AboutAbout
  • ContactContact
  • AboutAbout
  • ContactContact
  • HomeHome
  • HomeHome