12/13/2023
What is mistletoe?
Where does it come from, and why do we see it at Christmastime?
Below is a local tree with Mistletoe.
As a young girl, I loved mistletoe. It meant if a boy went under it, In my childlike dreams. I thought I would receive the kiss and then my night-in-shining-armor would swoop me up & take me away to the fairy like land only a young girl could dream of.
Daddy would always get the mistletoe for us. It was in the top of trees and to get a bunch down, he would shoot the limb it was attached to with his shotgun.
I often wondered about mistletoe, what it really meant, what it was used for and why. The following is a little bit of what my online research discovered.
As mistletoe is susceptible to very cold temperatures, they only occur in the southern half of the continent, below a line from approximately Oregon to New Jersey. The type that is commonly used as a Christmas decoration (P. serotinum, formerly called P. flavescens and P. leucarpum) is native to much of the eastern third of the US, from New Jersey to Florida. Interestingly, it is the State Flower of Oklahoma. This mistletoe infests a variety of deciduous tree hosts (more than 100 species), particularly American elm (Ulmus americana) in urban areas. It is often locally restricted to particular host species rather than indiscriminately infecting all types of trees. Small whitish flowers appear in May-July followed by white berries. All parts of this plant, but especially the berries, are toxic if ingested in large quantities.
In the west, there are several other species that occur primarily on hardwood trees but some also occur on juniper, cypress, and incense cedar. Big leaf mistletoe (P. tomentosum ssp. macrophyllum), which is parasitic on over 60 species of hardwood trees except oak, occurs from California to west Texas and is often used for Christmas decorations in this part of the country.
Mistletoe has a rich history of myth and tradition dating back to ancient times, probably due to their parasitic nature, elusive method of dispersal, and strange growth habit, attributing mystical powers to this parasitic plant. Mistletoe cut from oak trees was very symbolic to the Celtic Druids who ceremoniously cut it with a golden sickle on the 6th night of the moon. Later it was gathered at both mid-summer and winter solstices. In the Middle Ages it was thought that mistletoe – mistakenly thought to have sprouted from bird droppings – had life-giving powers and bestowed fertility, could protect against poisons, was an aphrodisiac, and could ward off evil spirits. In Europe it was commonly hung in doorways throughout the house and stable to prevent the entrance of witches.
The traditions related to European mistletoe were transferred to the similar American plant with immigration and settlement. And for those who wish to observe the correct etiquette: a berry should be plucked after each kiss and when the last berry is gone, there should be no more kissing!
