Mistletoe

Mistletoe
(Viscum album - European Mistletoe Pr CPI;
Phoradendron Ieucarpum; P. flavescens - American
Mistletoe Poison)

Folk Names: All Heal, Birdlime, Devil's Fuge, Donnerbesen, European Mistletoe, Golden Bough, Holy Wood, Lignam sanctae crucis, Misseltoe, Thunderbersem, Witches Broom, Wood of the Cross
Gender: Masculine
Planet: Sun
Element: Sun
Deities: Apollo, Freya, Frigga, Venus, Odin
Powers: Protection, Love, Hunting, Fertility, Health, Exorcism
Ritual  Uses: As is well known, the Druids revered the mistletoe, especially when found growing on an oak. It was (and still is) cut on Midsummer's Day, or else when the Moon is six days old. One stroke of a gold sickle was used to cut the herb, and it wasn't allowed to touch the ground.
Magical Uses: Long used for protection against lightning, disease, misfortune of every kind, fires and so on, it is carried or placed in an appropriate spot for these uses. The leaves and berries are used. Mistletoe is placed in cradles to protect children from being stolen by fairies and replaced with changelings.
  A ring carved of mistletoe wood will ward sicknesses when worn, and the plant will cure fresh wounds quickly when carried (do not apply to the wound).
   Mistletoe is also carried or worn for good luck in hunting and women carry the herb to aid in conception. It has also been utilized in spells designed to capture that elusive state of immortality, and to open locks.
  Laid near the bedroom door, mistletoe gives restful sleep and beautiful dreams, as it does when placed beneath the pillow or hung at the headboard.
  Kiss your love beneath mistletoe and you'll stay in love. Burned, mistletoe banishes evil. Wear it around your neck to attain invisibility. Mistletoe is an all-purpose herb.
[From: Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs]

Mistletoe is an evergreen hemi parasitic plant. It grows on the branches of host deciduous trees and forms clusters or "bushes" from 20 to 60 inches (50-150 cm) in diameter, drawing all its nourishment from the tree on which it grows. Small flowers mature in to sticky, greenish- or yellowish-white berries that remain on the plant throughout the winter. Mistletoe has historically been associated with peace; if enemies met by chance under a tree with mistletoe, they were required to lay down their arms and declare a truce until the next day. Mistletoe was also thought to be the "golden bough" written about in the Aenid by Virgil. Kissing under the mistletoe is a winter tradition that began with the Greek festival of Saturnalia, celebrated in late December. The Druids believed that mistletoe protected its possessors from all misfortunes, and used it as an aphrodisiac, an antidote for poison, and to bestow long life and fertility. In Norse mythology, Balder, the son of Odin, was killed by an arrow made of a mistletoe branch shot by the Norse trickster Loki, who knew that this was the one tree that Balder’s mother Frigga had not enchanted to do her son no harm. One strain of Christian myth teaches that the mistletoe was once the tree that was used for the lumber to make the cross; the plant was said to have shriveled in shame and become a parasite.

Constituents

Amines (acetylcholine, choline, histamine, GABA and tyramine), antioxidant flavonoids (quercitin, chalcone and flavone derivatives), and terpenoids (beta-amyrin, betulinic acid, oleanic acid, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol, ursolic acid, lupeol and ester combinations), as well as caffeic and myristic acids, mucilage, and tannins.

Parts Used

The entire plant, dried.

Typical Preparations

Traditionally used as a tea or tincture. The anti-cancer drug Iscadore is derived from mistletoe, but mistletoe teas do not have a documented anti-cancer effect.

Summary

There are actually two types of Mistletoe: phoradendron flavescens, which is a decorative that is native to the Eastern seaboard of the North America and is most commonly used in Christmas decorations. The second types, Viscum album, is of European origin and are most commonly found on apple trees, and even more rare growing on oak trees, the latter being highly venerated by ancient Celts and Germans, and used as a ceremonial plant. Mistletoe teas slow the pulse and lower blood pressure. They are most appropriate for treating the symptoms of high blood pressure, for example, headaches or dizziness, rather than as a primary treatment for high blood pressure. Traditional herbal medicine also uses mistletoe to treat arthritic pain and snoring.

Precautions

Mistletoe should be avoided during pregnancy. Only to be administered and used by a practitioner experienced in the use of this product.

http://mountainroseherbs.com/learn/mistletoe.php
 

The word 'mistletoe' is of uncertain etymology; it may be related to German Mist, for dung and Tang for branch, since mistletoe can be spread in the feces of birds moving from tree to tree. However, Old English mistel was also used for basil.


European mistletoe, Viscum album, is a poisonous plant that causes acute gastrointestinal problems including stomach pain, and diarrhea along with low pulse.

The name was originally applied to Viscum album (European Mistletoe, Santalaceae), the only species native in Great Britain and much of Europe. Later the name was further extended to other related species, including Phoradendron serotinum (the Eastern Mistletoe of eastern North America, also Santalaceae). European Mistletoe is readily recognized by its smooth-edged oval evergreen leaves borne in pairs along the woody stem, and waxy white berries in dense clusters of 2 to 6. In America, the Eastern Mistletoe is similar, but has shorter, broader leaves and longer clusters of 10 or more berries. In the United States, Phoradendron flavescens is commercially harvested for Christmas decorations.

Life cycle

Mistletoe in winterMistletoe species grow on a wide range of host trees, and commonly reduce their growth but can kill them with heavy infestation. Viscum album can parasitise more than 200 tree and shrub species. Almost all mistletoes are hemi-parasites, bearing evergreen leaves that do some photosynthesis, and using the host mainly for water and mineral nutrients. However, the mistletoe first sprouts from bird feces[citation needed] on the trunk of the tree and indeed in its early stages of life takes it nutrients from this source.[citation needed] An exception is the leafless quintral, Tristerix aphyllus, which lives deep inside the sugar-transporting tissue of a spiny cactus, appearing only to show its tubular red flowers.[5] The genus Arceuthobium (dwarf mistletoe; Santalaceae) has reduced photosynthesis; as an adult, it manufactures only a small proportion of the sugars it needs from its own photosythesis but as a seedling it actively photosynthesizes until a connection to the host is established.

Some species of the largest family, Loranthaceae, have small, insect-pollinated flowers (as with Santalaceae), but others have spectacularly showy, large, bird-pollinated flowers.

Most mistletoe seeds are spread by birds, such as the Mistle Thrush in Europe, the Phainopepla in southwestern North America, and Dicaeum of Asia and Australia. However, distinguishing between this species and ones of other ecological biomes is not difficult. They derive sustenance and agility through eating the fruits and nuts (drupes). The seeds are excreted in their droppings and stick to twigs, or more commonly the bird grips the fruit in its bill, squeezes the sticky coated seed out to the side, and then wipes its bill clean on a suitable branch.[citation needed] The seeds are coated with a sticky material called viscin (containing both cellulosic strands and mucopolysaccharides), which hardens and attaches the seed firmly to its future host.

Ecological importance


Mistletoe was often considered a pest that kills trees and devalues natural habitats, but was recently recognized as an ecological keystone species, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community.[6] A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots, transferring pollen between plants, and dispersing the sticky seeds. The dense evergreen witches' brooms formed by the dwarf mistletoes (Arceuthobium species) of western North America also make excellent locations for roosting and nesting of the Northern Spotted Owls and the Marbled Murrelets. In Australia the Diamond Firetails and Painted Honeyeaters are recorded as nesting in different mistletoes. This behavior is probably far more widespread than currently recognized; more than 240 species of birds that nest in foliage in Australia have been recorded nesting in mistletoe, representing more than 75% of the resident avifauna.[citation needed]

A study of mistletoe in junipers concluded that more juniper berries sprout in stands where mistletoe is present, as the mistletoe attracts berry-eating birds which also eat juniper berries.[7] Such interactions lead to dramatic influences on diversity, as areas with greater mistletoe densities support higher diversities of animals. Thus, rather than being a pest, mistletoe can have a positive effect on biodiversity, providing high quality food and habitat for a broad range of animals in forests and woodlands worldwide.

Other uses


The sticky juice of mistletoe berries was used as adhesive to trap small animals or birds. In South Africa it is called "Bird lime" in English and voelent in Afrikaans. A handful of ripe fruits are chewed until sticky, and the mass is then rubbed between the palms of the hands to form long extremely sticky strands which are then coiled around small thin tree branches where birds perch. When a bird lands on this it gets stuck to the branch and is then easy to catch by hand.

The sticky seed of the mistletoe on a branch.

And from a favorite website of mine: http://www.alchemy-works.com/herb_mistletoe.html

Mistletoe

Viscum album

The Druids considered mistletoe a holy plant that protected from evil and had great medicinal value. Mistletoe didn't begin quite so well in Norse mythology: the arrow that killed Baldur, beloved of the gods, was carved from mistletoe. The Norse gods then judged that henceforth mistletoe would be under the command of the goddess of love, in order to negate its use for hate--that's one explanation of why those who stand under the mistletoe are expected to kiss. The other explanation is that mistletoe was previously incorporated into Saturnalian wedding celebrations (Saturnalia was a Roman winter festival upon which Christmas was based). A Sun herb, mistletoe fights against despair, protects, and helps in hunting and conception. Unusual for a Sun herb, this magick herb is connected to dreams and to learning about immortality through dreams. It has been made into wands and is said to ward off werewolves and thieves. In the Ogham alphabet, mistletoe is a Chieftain associated with spiritual healing and development.

In Herbalism

According to Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy, mistletoe is "insanely aristocratic," because it grows according to its own rhythms, "as if the Earth were not there." It grows in any direction, often forming a strange ball up in a tree, it flowers in the winter, and it has berries all year long. He argued that mistletoe was the perfect remedy for cancer and developed it into a specially crafted medicine called Iscador, which is used in Europe (and which is not the same thing as an extract - mistletoe is poisonous). Mistletoe is also known as Birdlime, Herbe de la Croix, Mystyldene, and Lignum Crucis. This is chopped mistletoe harvested in Europe from apple trees.

Mistletoe is a parasite, or, as the Wikipedia puts it, a "hemiparasite." These plants grow on a host tree, tapping into the transport system of the tree for minerals and water. As you can see from the photo, they are green, so carry out photosynthesis on their own. The Wikipedia says that there are several kinds of mistletoe. This photo was taken in a parking lot in Pickens County, South Carolina, USA. The oak tree that these plants are growing in has lost all its leaves, but mistletoe is an evergreen.