Photo by Jim Jung. All rights reserved.

Mistletoe

Our local Mistletoes are highly visible once their host trees are leafless. Look for clumps of dark, evergreen leaves on the otherwise bare branches of lowland deciduous trees.

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that receives only partial nourishment from its host. Lacking true roots its sticky seeds - deposited by obliging birds on tree limbs - sprout and immediately send their root-like haustorium burrowing into the bark of their host. If they're very lucky they make it to the nutrient rich cambium layer just beneath their host's bark before the mistletoe seed's store of nutrients runs out, and there they begin sucking up water and salts which they appropriate for their own use. The tiny seedling then produces true leaves and begins to grow - eventually reaching the size of a small shrub.

Growing high in the air between heaven and earth ancient Europeans regarded Mistletoe as a sacred plant. Its evergreen leaves were seen as proof of its immortality and the ancient Druids used this highly poisonous plant to cure a variety of ills of both humans and animals - a practice not recommended for moderns. It was also used to ward off evil, sickness and bad luck by hanging sprigs of the plant over doorways. Its sacred status is still remembered today by our custom of hanging it above our own doors - though relatively few people seem to know the reason for this custom.

Since this is a southern plant and we're at the extreme edge of its range in Southern Illinois Mistletoe is most common in the extreme southern tip of the state - the trees in Cairo are loaded with it. Just a little further north it becomes a rare plant appearing only in sheltered coves along river bluffs.

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