As a tree branch parasite mistletoe is, technically, rootless. But it has other roots, historical roots, from traditions. Those are mostly considered pagan in origin, as indeed is any midwinter celebration of the return of lighter days, using evergreen plants. Fir trees, holly, ivy, yew, mistletoe – all are used as symbols of ongoing life through the winter. The Christian celebration of Christmas coincides, not necessarily by chance, with this older tradition and it utilises […]
Biodiversity , birds , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Media , Mistletoe , Orchard , Science , social history , surveying mistletoe
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Mistletoe decline stories – still out there, still wrong
A recent YouTube video from Kew came to my attention this week. All about our mistletoe, Viscum album, detailing its biology and growth and propagation, plus its biodiversity and some stuff on traditions and legends. All very very (almost suspiciously!) similar (even the title) to the words and phrasing I’ve used in talks and articles over the years. But generally a great video (did I mention it was familiar?). Even covering Viscum minimum on fleshy […]
Blogroll , Current Affairs , druids , Mistletoe , Religion , social history , Trade
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Du Maurier, Jamaica Inn, and mistletoe
Whilst reading Jamaica Inn, Daphne Du Maurier’s tale of smugglers on Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor, recently I was interested to find two references to mistletoe at Christmas, seemingly suggesting that its usage was commonplace at the time and place the novel is set. That time was not precisely stated by Du Maurier but was, according to her opening note about the 1935 book, ‘over a hundred and twenty years ago’. That would make it before 1815. […]
berries , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , Mistletoe , Other parasites , Science
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Missouri Mistletoe looks European
Here’s a puzzler. Some background first – in the USA the native mistletoes are very different to our European Viscum album and, in multiple ways, inferior in appearance (branching, leaf shape, berry size etc) to ours. The species used at Christmas over there are mostly from the mistletoe genus Phoradendron, which do at least have evergreen leaves and white berries, they’re just not as good-looking! (not to mention not being, actually, the genuine mistletoe of […]
berries , birds , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , germination , Mistletoe , social history
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Growing Your Own – advice and caveats
The English Mistletoe Shop, the retail website which I’ve jointly run for many years now, is not supplying mistletoe grow-kits this year. For me this will be the first winter in 20 years that I’ve not supplied these kits, originally developed for the (now defunct) Tenbury English Mistletoe Enterprise website, so it is a significant change of tack for me. I am missing the build up to it already, but other projects are looming and […]
Blogroll , Current Affairs , druids , Mistletoe , Mistletoe Day , Religion , social history , Tenbury Wells
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Mistletoe events – Washington DC, Brentor, Devon, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire
It’s mistletoe-theme time again – lots of stuff with ‘mistletoe’ in the title that’s not, really, got a lot to do with mistletoe. All those ‘Mistletoe Markets’ so popular in the US, all those ‘Mistletoe Murders’ in that US TV series I’ve never actually watched. And not forgetting all those mistletoe-themed products – particularly my favourite bugbear, the ‘mistletoe’ scented candles, which smell of, er, pine (as mistletoe doesn’t have a scent). And all that […]
Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , insects , Mistletoe , Orchard , Science
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More mistletoe = more biodiversity (especially bunny rabbits)
Can mere mistletoe presence increase biodiversity on the ground below? That seems an odd concept but, actually, studies over several years on mistletoes in warmer countries, and particularly on Australian mistletoes, have shown this to be the case. The impacts are mainly to do with nutrient-enriched leaf litter under the infected host tree, which alter local vegetation on the ground and increase faunal diversity within that litter. It can be so significant that such mistletoes […]
auctions , berries , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Mistletoe , Mistletoe Day , social history , Tenbury Wells
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Mistletoe Season 2025/6
It’s mistletoe time, yet again. And this year the berries have been ripening particularly early, some whitening up a month ago in October – which is very early indeed, and somewhat disconcerting! But they’re looking good now, many fully translucent and already glowing in the winter sun (when it actually shines). Mistletoe Diary is reporting on various matters this year, but here, to start with, are few of the usual event announcements: Mistletoe Auctions at […]
berries , Biodiversity , Blogroll , Current Affairs , Gardening , germination , Mistletoe , Other parasites , Science
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Parasitic plants in spring, Part 2
Picking up from my recent post about spring parasites that aren’t mistletoe, here are some pictures of what mistletoe seeds do in spring. And that is, mostly, germinating. On any old surface. As the seeds won’t know, until the seedling tries to attach itself to a host, whether it is sitting on a host or not. Interestingly, for these few weeks of germination, the mistletoe plant is independent, not parasitic, and relies on the resources […]
Biodiversity , Blogroll , Mistletoe , Other parasites
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Parasitic plants in spring, Part 1
A parasitic plants update, the first of two (maybe three!) parts. This Part 1 isn’t about mistletoe (see Part 2 for that). Because now is the season for spotting other plant parasites – the ones that parasitise host roots not, as mistletoe does, host branches. It is also, of course, the season for spotting mistletoe seeds germinating – and that’s what Part 2 will be about. For now though it is root parasites – starting […]