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When hung over a door , a sprig ofmistletoeis a matchmaker ; in the wild , the plant is a parasite have it away as the " thief of trees . " Thanks to astudy in Australia , mistletoe has a new reputation : timber Redeemer . Field researchindicates it ’s really a good plant , vital to a salubrious ecosystem .
Mistletoe : The Parasite
In case you have n’t get a line , mistletoe , a symbol of Christmas and a precursor of love , is also a parasite that can not grow on its own . It grows on another tree diagram or shrub and siphons nutrients by embedding its roots into the bark or radical of the host .
Unidentified species of mistletoe flora in a tree in Kit Carson Park , Escondido , California , USA . pic by : Cindy Bingham Keiser .
The plant ’s self-seeking is far - reaching and severe . Each of the 1,400 species — which live all continent except Antarctica — is at least somewhat dependent on a server plant , sometimes resulting in its demise ( albeit rarely , because this would mean the decease of the Viscum album as well ) . The genus name of American mistletoes , Phoradendron , comes from the Greek ' phor , ' intend to carry off ( as a stealer ) , and ' dendron , ' which refers to Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . The plant ’s common name is no less indicting : ' mistletoe , ' a name derived from the Anglo - Saxon Christian Bible for ' dung ' and ' get onto , ' translates rather literally to ' muck - on - a - twig , ' a reference to mistletoe ’s method of diffusion and germination . Mistletoe seeds will germinate on a branch after snuff it through the belly of a forage bird . It ’s a well - adapted sponger , as the works has evolved a sticky residue that cake the seminal fluid , help them hold onto the host offset .
Viscum album berries at Botanical Garden KIT , Karlsruhe , Germany . Photo by : H. Zell .
Mistletoe : the Forest ’s Savior
In 2003 , David Watson , an ecologist in New South Wales , undertook what would become a 5 - year study to determine mistletoe ’s kinship with forest ecologies . He began with a standard enquiry : What would encounter if mistletoes vanish tout ensemble ? In this compositor’s case , though , it was n’t a rhetorical question . Watson and his squad actually removed mistletoe from 17 woodlands , then waited three years to compare them with two other study groups : 11 woodlands where it still spring up and 12 woodlands where it never develop .
Viscum album colonizing a row of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . Konstancin - Jeziorna , Poland . Photo by : Albert Jankowski .
Dr. Watson hope that the results would indicate that mistletoes conferred at least some benefit to the woodlands , and he was n’t disappointed . Not only are mistletoes helpful , they are a " anchor " mintage that take for the ecosystem together .
In the timberland where mistletoes were remove , a third of the chick species had go away , as well as many mammalian and reptiles . Not only are mistletoes an of import food for thought source for canopy - dwellers who forage its seeds , they are also a decisive beginning for life on the timberland floor . This confused Dr. Watson until he agnize that the plant ’s parasitism made it quite useful . Being a parasite , mistletoes are passing about the food they absorb . Unlike the innkeeper plant life , a false mistletoe will discharge its leaves while nutrients are still in them , and they shed provide more frequently than non - leech . Thus , fallen leaves are a wondrous food beginning for forest animate being twelvemonth - round .
' Cousin Reginald Under the Mistletoe , ' by Norman Rockwell . cover charge of The Country Gentlemen , December 22 , 1917 . Photo by : Saturday Evening Post .
Mistletoe , Druids & the Holiday Kiss
Two species are broadly speaking associated with Christmas : European mistletoe ( Viscum album ) and North American Viscum album ( Phoradendron serotinum ) . According to Pliny the elderberry bush , the custom of hang it above a threshold to further holiday kissing set about with the ancient Druids , who trust that Old World mistletoe had sacred powers , as show by its elevation in the canopies , and its green foliage even in midwinter . They harvest mistletoe with gilded sickles and hung it over doorways to ward off evil and nurture fertility .
At some point , prescript were imposed . In his 1820 record book " The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon , " American author Washington Irving write : " The mistletoe is still cling up in farm - houses and kitchens at Christmas , and the young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under it , plucking each time a berry from the scrub . When the Berry are all plucked the perquisite give up . "
If you pick off a Chuck Berry , however , do n’t give it to your stunner . While mistletoe ’s fateful toxicity is largely anecdotal , eat a Charles Edward Berry can induce minor physical upshot such as a slow heartbeat — which is on the nose the opposite of what you ’re hoping for , if you ’re standing under the mistletoe in the first seat .
