What medicinal plant became a holiday tradition?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
December 17, 2001
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The earliest traditions of mistletoe (Viscum album Linnaeus) are attributed to the Celts. These people left no records and much of their art and statues were destroyed. The only written records come from Pliny the Elder made during the Roman conquest of Britain in
the first century.
According to Pliny "...The admiration in which the mistletoe is held throughout Gaul ought not to pass unnoticed. The Druids, for so they call their wizards, esteem nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grows, provided only that the tree is an oak."
Mistletoe must have appeared a magical plant. It retains its leaves and green color through the winter and grows without roots or the presence of soil. Pliny states that mistletoe was collected carefully on the sixth day of the moon by a priest dressed in white and using a golden sickle. The mistletoe was dropped from the tree and caught in a white cloth. Potions of mistletoe were thought to "make barren animals to bring forth, and that the plant is a remedy against all poison."
These ideas about mistletoe were not limited to the Celts in Britain, similar legends were found throughout Europe including Pliny's homeland. Most of the folktales emphasized that mistletoe must be hit with an arrow or a stone between the first and sixth days of the moon and caught as it fell.
Even though Dioscorides had during the time of Pliny stated mistletoe a poison, its use as a medicinal lasted until the 1900s. Gerard's Herbal (1633) states, "Also daily experience shows this plant to have no malign or poisonous [nature], but rather a contrary faculty, being frequently used in medicines against the epilepsy." In the American Materia Medica (1919), Ellingwood cites several cases of poisoning by mistletoe, but recommended mistletoe extracts be given during labor, for dropsy (edema), children's spasms, and to lower blood pressure.
As for the holiday tradition of kissing under mistletoe, the legends say nothing. But dating from Roman times until the Middle Ages, women who wished to get pregnant carried a sprig of mistletoe.
The University of Basel in Switzerland has an excellent photograph of Viscum album, mistletoe. To view the photograph, click on the link:
http://www.unibas.ch/botimage/h/Viscum_album.htm 
Click on the photograph to enlarge the image.
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
Is mistletoe just a poison or a medicine? Plants that Changed History - December 18, 2001
What is the mystery of mistletoe cactus? Weird Plants - March 3, 2005
Mistletoe Cacti (Rhipsalis Gaertner) Plant of the Week - February 24, 2005
What are witches' brooms? Weird Plants - October 31, 2002
Where do the little people live? Herbal Folklore - October 28, 2002
How did holly become a Christmas tradition? Herbal Folklore - December 23, 2002
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