Widlife Watch: Mistletoe

Mistletoe is an odd plant. It's evergreen and grows in the crowns of broad-leaved trees such as apple, lime, hawthorn, and poplar. The plant is actually hemiparasitic on the trees it grows on and uses roots called haustorium to both attach itself to trees and to draw nutrients and water from them. The native mistletoe to the UK is Viscum album - it has rounded simple spatula-like leaves and spherical translucent white berries. The berries have sticky juice that was used to make a glue in the past to catch birds.

Mistletoe is a plant very much associated with this chilly time of year along with holly and ivy. It's often used in Christmas decorations and has been important in past European customs, legends, and religious ceremonies. Kissing under the mistletoe is a long-running tradition, the first evidence of which comes from England back in the 16th Century. In pre-Christian Europe mistletoe was seen as as a symbol of divine male essence and was associated with romance, fertility and vitality and used in ancient Celtic rituals. In fact mistletoe is still a part of modern day druid ceremonies. 

Speaking of which, I headed out for a walk with friends just a couple of days before the winter solstice to visit the Coldrum long barrow - a Neolithic tomb. By chance we stumbled upon a druid ceremony taking place. Solstice observances involve the celebration of the end of the darkening days as from this point the days begin to lengthen towards the summer. As part of their ceremony they took cuttings from mistletoe. They offered some to us telling us that the mistletoe had yet to touch the ground and to plant it and make a wish for the new year.

And with that in mind:

Happy New Year!