With November ending and the Christmas season in tow, among the traditional practices that come to mind is the age-old practice of kissing under the mistletoe. There are a lot of interesting stories about this mysterious, evergreen parasite. On this page of our magazine, I am going to reveal some of the most charming and spellbinding gospels of the mistletoe.

The Herbology of Mistletoe

Plant Profile: -

Mistletoe (Viscum album)

Herb, shrub, parasite, perennial, evergreen

At least partial sun for at least 3-6 hours a day

1 to 2 feet

Flower color: Yellowish-green

Foliage color: Green

Features: Summer flower (flowers in May); white (or red in some species) berries appear in winter (December); constant, evergreen; parasitic but can photosynthesize, does not need soil but grows on the sides (stems or branches) of a host tree, does not kill the host tree; low maintenance; cold-hardy; provide adequate water and nutrients to the host tree for mistletoe to survive; used to brew the Forgetfulness Draught, leaves are used in potions to treat epilepsy and general seizures, and flowers can be used in antidotes to poisons, but should be avoided when pregnant or lactating; berries are used in brewing the Draft of Oblivion - one of the few Celtic potion recipes that survived, plants are used by the Celts in healing recipes that haven't survived; adverse reactions include itchiness, inflammation, mild fever or flu-like symptoms, and anaphylaxis; used in traditional Christmas decorations; berries are poisonous; the whole plant is toxic and must be taken in small doses, W.H.I.P.S. Classification - Class C: Toxic, rating: level two, poisonous plants.

Harvesting the mistletoe: - Mistletoes can be harvested in May for the flowers or in December for the berries, with caution, as if all the flowers are picked, there will be no berries.

Hosting the mistletoe: - To grow mistletoe, one would have to crush fresh mistletoe berries into a cut made into the limb of the desired host tree. The host tree will neither die nor suffer in any way, and as long as the host tree receives adequate water and nutrients, both the mistletoe and the host tree will thrive. The common host trees for mistletoe are broad-leaved trees such as apple, ash, lime, hawthorn, oak, and poplar. 

Where does the mistletoe grow: - The mistletoe (Viscum album) is native to Europe, but also grows in Asia. Some American species of mistletoe thrive in the deserts in the Southwest, where they live on palo verde, mesquite, juniper, pine, and other trees.

How to remove a mistletoe if necessary: - It is very difficult to remove a mistletoe from its host tree. The roots of a mistletoe grow into the tissues of the tree, extending up and down. Even if the visible portion is removed, mistletoe grows again from the portion that remains inside the host tree. The most effective way to get rid of an unwanted mistletoe is to cut off the entire limb nestling the mistletoe from the host tree.

The Missing Story of Kissing Under the Mistletoe

Besides ivy, holly, and poinsettia, mistletoe is one of the favorite plants to hang as a traditional Christmas decoration. The mention of mistletoe makes our hearts flutter for a very well-known reason - Harry Potter kissed Cho Chang under the mistletoe (no, seriously).

Kissing under the mistletoe is a popular theme in myriad legendary folktales and novels, both contemporary and ancient.

The tradition of kissing under the mistletoe probably originated around the 1500s in Europe. An old custom was one kiss per berry, and the berry was picked off after the kiss. Of course, this meant that once all the berries had been plucked, nobody would be kissed under the mistletoe anymore. However, this tradition was forgotten over time, and nowadays, nobody touches the berries.

Of course, many of us have wondered how kissing under the mistletoe came about. We owe it to an old Norse legend. The story goes that Balder, who was the god of innocence and light, was the son of the Norse god Odin and Frigga, the goddess of love, fertility, and motherhood. Frigga's love and worry for her son were so great that she demanded that all living and non-living objects swear an oath not to harm Balder. The poor mother forgot all about mistletoe when extracting the oath. Loki, the god of evil and destruction, took this as an opportunity and made an arrow from a sprig of mistletoe. He then tricked Hoth, Balder’s blind brother, into shooting the mistletoe arrow towards Balder to kill him. Balder died, and with him died innocence and sunlight, giving rise to long winter nights in the North. Frigga lamented the death of her son by crying on the sprig of mistletoe, and her tears formed berries, which the mistletoe has borne ever since. Frigga decreed that a mistletoe should never cause harm again and always be the symbol of peace and love. Mortal enemies would forget their rivalries under the mistletoe and share a kiss of peace to indicate their truce. And anyone standing under the mistletoe would get a kiss. In some versions of this legend, Balder was later revived, but the long winter nights in the North have clearly remained.

It is said that kissing under the mistletoe brings good luck. 

Earlier, British servants would use the mistletoe as an excuse to harmlessly steal a kiss from any woman standing under the mistletoe. It was said that if a woman was caught under the mistletoe, she could not refuse a kiss, as refusing was considered to be bad luck. In Victorian England, if a girl refused a kiss, she shouldn't expect any marriage proposals for at least the next year, and many people would snub their noses at her, remarking that she would most likely end up as an old maid. The mistletoe was used for socializing and mingling together on Christmas for a long time.

Yet another legend states that kissing under the mistletoe originated in ancient Greece, during the festival of Saturnalia, and later became part of marriage ceremonies because of the plant's association with fertility. 

The song lyrics to ‘Blame it on the Mistletoe‘ sung by AJ Mitchell and Ella Henderson, written by songwriters Jez Ashurst, Julie Frost, Ella Henderson, and Tre Jean Marie, tell the story of a couple who strike up a relationship after kissing under the mistletoe. A book of the same name by Beth Garrod is available here to add to your winter reading collection. It is a contemporary romantic young adult fiction novel, portraying a unique take on the classic switching places trope. Beth Garrod is a writer for teens from London who has a degree in Biology and worked as a TV producer earlier.

Harper’s Weekly, an American magazine, began featuring pictures of couples kissing under the mistletoe during the mid to late 1800s.

Mistletoe Facts to Keep You on Your Toes

• Mistletoe is a common sight in Europe. The plant has been used throughout history, from the Common Era and earlier by the Celts.


• The Muggle scientific classification of mistletoes is as follows: - 

Kingdom - Plantae (Plant Kingdom)

Phylum - Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants)

Class - Dicotyledonae (Dicotyledons)

Order - Santalales (Sandalwood, Mistletoes, and Allies)

Family - Santalaceae (Sandalwood)

Genus - Viscum (Mistletoes) 

Species - Viscum album (common mistletoe)

• Just for fun: - The names of the order Santalales and the family Santalaceae remind the observant ones of Santa Claus (Father Christmas). This is a figure of speech called homonyms, where two words having similar sounds or pronunciations have different origins or meanings. This brings a tie-in to the Christmas season, as the mistletoe plant is used as part of traditional Christmas decorations.


• The North American oak mistletoe (Phoradendron) and dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium) are other well-known members of the Santalaceae family. The Santalaceae family includes about 44 genera and more than 1,000 species of semiparasitic shrubs, herbs, and trees, distributed in tropical and temperate regions, of which the majority are root parasites and a few are stem parasites. Among these, the genus Viscum has 65 species. No fewer than 20 species of mistletoe are endangered.


• Mistletoe is the state flower of Oklahoma, United States.


• Mistletoe berries contain a toxic lectin (lectins are glycoproteins, that is, proteins or chains of amino acids bound to carbohydrates or chains of saccharides) called viscumin (mistletoe lectin-1, or ML-1). Fact to note - The juice of mistletoe berries is quite sticky.


• The word mistletoe comes from the Anglo-Saxon words "mist" and "tan" and roughly translates to "dung on a twig.". This is because the Anglo-Saxons noticed that mistletoes often grew on parts of plants where birds left their droppings. Interestingly, mistletoes, on their death, provide nesting to birds and mammals like morning doves, Cooper's hawks, spotted owls, and squirrels. Mistletoe is also known as birdlime, all-heal, golden bough, drudenfuss, iscador, and devil's fuge.


• Mistletoe Myth: - You may have seen mistletoe candles being sold in certain stores. I would like to warn you that those are ordinary perfumed candles, not infused with the fragrance of mistletoe. Mistletoe is sadly not fragrant, so you cannot use the smell of mistletoe to create romance.

Mythological Symbolism of Mistletoe

 Why is mistletoe seen as a symbol of peace? - Once upon a time, Frigga, the goddess of love, motherhood, and fertility, was worried about the safety of her son, Balder. Balder's father was the Norse god Odin. Frigga took an oath from everything - fire, water, trees, and sickness - to stay away from her son. Sadly, the worried mother overlooked the mistletoe. The trickster Loki took the opportunity and killed Balder with a weapon made of mistletoe. This made Frigga cry, and her tears formed the berries on the mistletoe plant. Balder was brought back to life, and Frigga declared that mistletoe would be seen as a symbol of peace thereafter. The symbol was popularized on postcards sent to soldiers during the Great War to indicate peace. Owing to the story being about the goddess of fertility and motherhood, many women in medieval England used to tie mistletoe around their waists, hoping that it would make them more fertile.

Why is mistletoe considered a religious symbol? -Mistletoe was considered sacred by the Celtic Druids and said to have both medicinal and magical value (read the Plant Profile above). It was also said to provide protection against ghosts and witches (rolls eyes), protect against nightmares, and predict the future. In fact, once upon a time, mistletoe was hung on Halloween to keep evil spirits away. Pliny the Elder says that the Druids removed mistletoe during the summer and winter solstices from an oak tree using a golden knife or sickle. Hence, they hung mistletoe to decorate their houses at Christmas and are likely to be the first to do so, although they did not celebrate the festival. However, the idea of hanging mistletoe in the house and in front of churches received backlash from Western Christians in Europe, who tried to ban it altogether.

Mistletoe - Healing or Poison?

Ingestion of mistletoe berries in small amounts has been reported to cause gastrointestinal distress, consisting of nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, and diarrhea. In rare cases, cardiovascular collapse may occur. However, it is unknown if this is due to a direct cardiotoxic effect of the berries or because of water loss through diarrhea and vomiting, leading to a reduced blood volume and hypovolemic shock. In some cases, central nervous system effects such as drowsiness, ataxia, and seizures have also been reported.

As I described earlier, mistletoe berries contain a toxic lectin protein called viscumin. Viscumin can inhibit protein synthesis and cause cell death by apoptosis (self-destruction of cells). Other potential toxins in mistletoe berries with a minimal role in causing its adverse effects include various alkaloids, gamma-aminobutyric acid, phenols, phenethylamines, phenylpropanoids, polysaccharides, and flavonoids.

Mistletoe extracts brewed in teas are used as illegal abortifacients (abortifacients are agents that induce abortion) in some countries. Not what you would expect from a plant decreed to be the symbol of love and peace by the goddess of motherhood and fertility, right?

The apoptosis-inducing effect of the lectins in mistletoe is not all bad, though. The same effect can be used to control the growth of cancerous cells. For this reason, both mistletoe extracts and purified mistletoe lectins in low, safer doses are being researched as anti-cancer agents for various types of cancer, including leukemias and lymphomas (types of blood cancer).

Besides, European mistletoe (Viscum album) is in some cases used as a treatment for constipation; high blood pressure; atherosclerosis (narrowing of the space in larger arteries because of hardening of the walls due to fat deposits); internal bleeding; haemorrhoids; epilepsy and seizures (the Celts used mistletoe leaves in potion recipes for the same); gout; depression; sleep issues; menstrual problems; exhaustion; and as a tranquilizer (perhaps just like the Forgetfulness Draught or the Draft of Oblivion). A specific extract of mistletoe may help fight hepatitis C (a type of inflammation of the liver), as suggested by some scientific studies, but other extracts or other species do not have the same effect.

Many also claim that mistletoe helps with the common cold, but there is no solid evidence to prove this claim.

And of course, the Celts may have had a lot more knowledge of the healing properties of mistletoe, but like I said earlier, most of their potion recipes have been lost.

So, what do you think? Is mistletoe a bane or a boon? 

With all of this in mind, embrace the magic of the mistletoe this winter as you stand underneath it, awaiting your most magical kiss.

The format for the Plant Profile was taken from Lesson 8, First Year Herbology, and some facts about mistletoe were taken from Lesson 4, Third Year Herbology.

The rest of this topic was compiled with help from various Muggle sources across the web.

- Hiya Debnath, Journalist, Compiler, Publisher, Editor, Hogwarts Monthly Magazine.