It’s Christmas, which means it’s the time of year for cornering your crush under mistletoe.
Here are some things you might not know about the plant you’re gonna smooch under.
Mistletoe might look pretty, but the plant you’re likely to see strung as a Christmas
decoration in the United States is actually a parasite.
It grows on a tree’s branches or trunk and actually plants roots in its host to take
in nutrients.
There are strains of the plant that can grow on its own, getting its own nutrients through
photosynthesis like any other plant.
But the parasitic type usually kills the tree, but there’s a bit of a silver lining: that
dead tree makes a spot for birds to nest.
And that’s actually where mistletoe gets its name.
Anglo-Saxons noted that the plant usually grows where birds poop.
In Anglo-Saxon, “mistel” means “dung” and “tan” means “twig.”
“Dung-on-a-twig” then roughly translated to mistletoe.
And those berries?
Mistletoe berries are poisonous to cats and other small animals and toxic to humans, though
there’s some debate over whether they’re toxic enough to kill.
Which is strange when you think that mistletoe, the berries and the leaves, was historically
used as a remedy.
In the 17th century, it was prescribed as a cure for nervous disorders, epilepsy, and
spasms.
It has also been used as a digestive aid, a heart tonic, a sedative, a treatment for
arthritis, hysteria, asthma, bed-wetting among other things.
It was even used as a treatment for cancerous tumours.
More recently, a study has shown that Korean mistletoe can help fight obesity-related liver
disease.
At least, in mice.
The study was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
According to the study, Korean mistletoe contains a compound called “viscothionin” that
affects fat metabolism in the liver.
Obese mice who were treated with it saw their body and liver weights drop.
So the researchers hope viscothionin could someday be used to treat nonalcoholic fatty
liver disease in humans.
It’s precisely because of its healing properties that mistletoe made its way into Christmas
traditions, but the kissing bit came a little later.
It’s thought that the ritual started with servants in England before spreading to the
middle class.
Men were allowed to steal a kiss from a woman if she was caught standing underneath mistletoe,
and for her to refuse was bad luck.
Some traditions say that a berry had to be taken from the plant for every kiss, effectively
capping the number of potentially unwanted holiday smooches.
So does knowing all this give you a different perspective on mistletoe?
Let us know in the comments below or you can catch me on Twitter as @astVintageSpace.
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