Phoradendron, though similar, is a different genus and is commonly found in America. Both types of mistletoe grow on a wide range of deciduous trees mainly from south central Oklahoma to southwestern Texas and Mexico. They are not commonly found on oaks (except for the oak mistletoe of California P. villosum) but favor apple, sycamore, ash alder and fruit trees.
Mistletoe seeds are produced on female plants inside small white berries, which have sticky flesh and are spread by birds. The seeds germinate and then penetrate the young, thin bark on trees and form a haustorium (freely branched structure), which penetrates the cambium and eventually the wood.
The mystic plant whose roots grew in the air and not in the earth was considered sacred from earliest times by cultures from the Mediterranean to the Baltic.
Mistletoe was considered masculine and associated with the sun, the element of air and the gods Apollo, Freya, Frigga, Venus and Odin. The French claim it once was a tree, but when it was used to make Christ's cross it was cursed and denied a place on Earth, so it became a parasite.
The tradition of hanging mistletoe above doorways for lovers to kiss beneath on the winter solstice, Dec. 23rd, or on Christmas Day originated from the pagan Baldur myth or Catholic St. Baldur myth.
Baldur, the god of peace, was slain with an arrow made of mistletoe. He was sent to the Otherworld to await the day when he would return to Earth to usher in a new era. Freyja, the goddess of love and mother of Baldur, dedicated the plant to the love felt for her son. She decreed that anyone passing beneath it must receive a kiss to show tribute to the "symbol of love."
The mistletoe of the sacred oak was especially divine to the ancient Celtic druids; the plant was the focus of solstice rites. On midsummer's eve or when the moon was six days old, mistletoe was harvested from a scared oak while the community gathered around. Using a golden, crescent-shaped sickle in token of the moon goddess, the priest cut the mistletoe, which was caught in a white cloth before it touched the ground.
The conjunction with the sickle created a union between druid and mistletoe, moon and sun, earth and sky, causing a spark to be drawn down into the body.
This represents the Day of Liberation, a celebration of that extra day of the year.
Druids and many European cultures used mistletoe medicinally for convulsions, delirium, hysteria, neuralgia and heart conditions.
Anthroposophical medicine introduced Iscador, a remedy used in Germany to this day for patients suffering from cancer. It was first believed to be tumor-inhibiting, but now it is widely used to improve the patients' quality of life and to reduce tumor-induced symptoms and side-effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
In the US, mistletoe "holds interest as a potential anticancer agent because extracts derived from it have shown to kill cancer cells in vitro" but the FDA has not approved of any forms of the extract.
As this important research continues in Germany (with recent successful experiments), it certainly keeps with the belief of its magical qualities. Perhaps someday we will have peace from the horrible diseases of life.
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