MEET ME UNDER THAT PARASITIC PLANT

I love the tradition of mistletoe.  It gives me an excuse to kiss my husband AND torture the littles.  I like to see the look on little kids’ faces when they see their “crazy” Aunt under the mistletoe making goofy kissy faces.  I was disappointed to learn that mistletoe is a parasite.  Yep, you and I have been kissing under a parasite (not each other though!).  Mistletoe grows from a seed into a spherical mass of leaves.  Mistletoe is green year-round and makes most of it’s energy from photosynthesis.  But, it also sends out a haustorium which is a type of root that infiltrates the host tree and parasitizes its nutrients and water.  If you look, you will notice the green, spherical mass, in some trees.  This is mistletoe!  So, how did the mistletoe grow up in the tree?  You can thank a bird for that.  Some songbirds will eat the mistletoe berries, go sit on a branch, and defecate (scientific word for “poop out”) the undigested seeds which germinate and grow.  The name mistletoe even refers to this process.   Apparently, the original word “misteltan” was Germanic in origin.  “Mistel” meands “dung” and “tan” means “twig”.  The scientific name (Phoradendron) is Greek for “tree thief”, referring to the theft of nutrients and water from the host tree.  Ah…what is in a name?

For more fun reading, visit this article in National Geographic:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151218-mistletoe-christmas-holiday-kissing-parasite-birds-cancer/