Good thing the mistletoe is hung where you can see – it's poisonous

It seems no matter our history, occasion or tradition, we find some way to connect all our religious and secular holidays to some thoroughly unrelated symbol. Be it the resurrection Easter Bunny, the inedible pumpkin of Halloween or a red-nosed reindeer, there always seems to be some eminently marketable mascot to print on a lunch box, cast into low-grade chocolate or fashion into a Chia Pet.

When it comes to symbology, Christmas is certainly no slouch. From fir trees to talking snowmen and odd little elves, there is no shortage of opportunities to spend hard-earned cash on symbols of the season. And the venerated mistletoe is no exception.

While there are hundreds of websites devoted to the history and mythology of mistletoe use during the holidays, the honest truth is that nobody has any idea where this all came from. There are lots of stories of Druids and mystical power, evil spirits, enhanced fertility rituals and more. But tracing these uses back to some origin of yore is generally beyond us these days.

Our current use of mistletoe is no clearer picture either. I mean who was the first decoration-hanging dad who came up with the idea of dangling in the front hall a few sprigs of a poison berried, hemi-parasitic plant that has to be harvested from the top of the tallest tree in the forest?! Sounds like a guy trying to avoid hunting for the box of velvet bows buried somewhere in the basement.

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The most instantly recognizable mistletoe form used around Christmas time is the ubiquitous Mistletous pseudoplasticus ― more commonly known as the cellophane-wrapped, plastic mistletoe. But for those who remember the real thing – and the smaller number who see the real thing these days, the front runner is European or common mistletoe, Viscum album. The most common form found growing on Kentucky walnuts, maples and oaks is the closely related Phoradendron leucarpum.

Both mistletoe species, along with a handful of other minor species spread around the globe, share a common ecological package. They are hemi-parasites, meaning that they get some of their water and nutrition from their host plant through penetrating root-like structures that make connections with the host plant’s vascular system. The remainder of their nutritional input comes from their own photosynthetic leaves that produce carbohydrates like any other green plant.

All mistletoe species are dioecious – meaning that they produce male and female flowers on separate plants. The female plants produce the characteristic white and fairly poisonous fruit. Oppositely arranged leaves are deep and glossy green and last for 15-18 months, making all mistletoe species evergreen.

The name, mistletoe, comes from a corruption of two Anglo-Saxon words that translate roughly to “dung” and “branch.” Now you might be wondering why a sacred symbol (to some!) of this joyous holiday might be referred to as a septic stick, but there is a reason.

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Mistletoe propagation in nature is accomplished by seed distribution by a long list of birds. While the fruits may be poisonous to us, they are no problem for the birds that eat them. They digest the fruit and then “deposit” the seed, coated in a slimy white – bird dung – package on the branches of trees. The seed then germinates and uses the little guano fertilizer packet to sustain its growth until it can make a vascular connection with its host plant.

And there you have mistletoe as dung on a stick!

Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, 6220 Old Lagrange Road, www.yewdellgardens.org/

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Under the mistletoe: Popular Christmas plant is poisonous