WEBVTT - Ritual of Oak and Mistletoe 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.400 While on this subject we also must not omit the 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:09.520 respect shown to this plant by the Gaelic provinces. The Druids, 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.200 that is what they call their magicians, hold nothing more 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.920 sacred than mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:20.120 provided it is a hard oak. Groves of hard oaks 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.920 are chosen even for their own sake, and the magicians 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:27.400 perform no rites without using the foliage of those trees, 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.560 so that it may be supposed that it is from 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:34.159 this custom that they get their name of Druids, from 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:38.479 the Greek word meaning oak. But further, anything growing on 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.560 oak trees they think to have been sent down from Heaven, 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:44.840 and to be a sign that the particular tree has 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:49.839 been chosen by God himself. Mistletoe is, however, rather seldom 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.640 found on a hard oak, and when it is discovered, 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.880 it is gathered with great ceremony, and particularly on the 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.240 sixth day of the moon, which for these tribes constitutes 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:01.920 the beginning of the months in the years, and after 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.039 every thirty years of a new generation, because it is 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.760 then rising in strength and not one half of its 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:11.160 full size. Hailing the moon in a native word that 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.320 means healing all things, they prepare a ritual sacrifice and 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:19.120 banquet beneath the tree, and bring up two white bulls, 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.640 whose horns are bound. For the first time on this occasion, 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.920 a priest, arrayed in white vestments, climbs the tree with 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:29.280 a golden sickle and cuts down the mistletoe, which is 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.680 caught in a white cloak. Then finally they kill the victims, 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.759 praying to God to render his gift propitious to those 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:38.919 on whom he has bestowed it. They believe that mistletoe 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.319 given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:46.160 is barren, and that it is an antidote for all poisons. 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.960 So powerful is the superstition in regard to trifling matters 0:01:49.960 --> 0:02:01.600 that frequently prevails among the races of mankind. Welcome to 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:10.919 Stuff to Blow your mind from how Stuff Works dot Com. 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:12.840 Hey you, welcome to stuff to blow your mind. My 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.480 name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And that 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.080 reading was from our old friend Plenty of the Elder. 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:23.080 Obviously it was concerning the Druid rituals about missiletoe. Robert, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.240 you are leaning into Christmas topics this year. I'm I'm 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:29.359 a little disturbed by this, do you want to explain yourself? Oh, 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.960 I just I finally decided, you know, it was it 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.080 was foolish to resist. I should just I should just 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:37.200 lean into Christmas. I should give into Christmas. And uh. 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.000 And it's paying off, you know, because missiletoe is a 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.040 fine example. It's easy to just assume it's just the 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:48.240 silly tradition that it results in, you know, smooching underneath 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:50.880 that sort of thing. But it's actually like moon worship, 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.920 sacrifice and uh and parasitism. Yeah, it's it's actually really crazy. 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.280 Um again, this quote was from plenty of the Elder 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.880 Roman historian. Uh. This particular translation was the Rockham jones 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.920 Icles translation, which you can find online. Uh. And it 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.120 does sound like one crazy Christmas party, doesn't No matter 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:14.600 how how out of control your office Christmas party gets, 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.960 there probably not gonna be white bulls marched in and 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.720 human sacrifice is made to some sort of druid god. 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:23.840 But that's how you know a party is good. Like 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.000 if you're there for the first time some year and 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:28.200 they bring in the two white bulls, like, you know 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.200 it's going to be wrong when the golden sickle comes out. Um, yeah, 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.880 it's it's it's time to to really commit to staying, 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:35.360 or to go ahead and head out and go home, 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.320 called to call it an early evening. Um, yeah, yeah, 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.760 this uh, I think this will be an interesting episode. 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.120 And I was tempted to to even write a long 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.680 form form poem, something like twads the night before Christmas 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:53.000 and deep in the woods a sacrifice was planned by 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:57.520 the Galls and their druids, but alas I, I didn't 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.520 have the poetic energy to keep going. Well, there's always 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:03.240 next year. But anyway, so if you know us, you 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.840 know that we can never resist consulting Plenty of the 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:09.280 Elder on any topic of of the natural world, or 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.920 of monsters, or of history. He's got the best and 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.520 often funniest takes on stuff from ancient Rome, right, and 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.600 and certainly we don't do not depend on first century 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.000 historians like Plenty for our for our data, but it 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.080 adds a lot of flavor to what we're talking about. 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.680 And you usually we are talking about the things that 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.600 he's quite wrong about, or or the thing that he's 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.400 reporting is like purely mythological mistletoe, which he talks about 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.240 quite a bit in the natural history. However, he does 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.599 manage to get some thing's right. There's there. There are 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.400 a lot of things that that are that are less fantastic. 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.920 Nobody's speaking out of their bellies so much when discussing missiletoe. Well, 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:50.640 let's consult plenty on mistletoe, and then we can talk 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:52.960 a little bit more about what modern science says about 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.960 this plant vampire. So first of all, he says, uh quote, 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.919 there are three kinds of mistletoe. One that grows as 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.320 a parasite on the fur and the larch is called 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:08.120 stellis in Euboia and hiphi are and arcadia. And the 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.159 name of mistletoe is used for one growing on the oak, 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:16.039 hard oak, home oak, wild pear, turpentine tree, and indeed 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:19.160 most other trees, and growing in great abundance on the oak, 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.720 is one which they call dryos hypha are. There is 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.120 a difference in the case of every tree except the 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.160 home olk and the oak, in the smell and poison 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:31.480 of the berry and the disagreeably scented leaf, both the 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:35.120 berry and the leaf of the mistletoe being bitter and sticky. 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:39.000 The hiphi are is more useful than vetch for fattening cattle. 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:41.960 At first, it only acts as a purge, but it 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:46.320 subsequently fattens the beasts that have stood the purging process, 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.919 although they say that those with some internal malady cannot 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.400 stand it. I like the idea there that you would 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.520 essentially just use the mistletoe to poison your flocks, and 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.160 then the ones that survive get more food to eat, 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:03.200 and so they get bitter, bigger. Uh Okay, so picking 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.040 up with plenty, he says. Quote. The method of treatment 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.320 is employed for forty days in the summer. An additional 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.159 variety is said to be found in mistletoe in that 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.479 when it grows on deciduous trees, it also sheds its 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.640 leaves itself, but when growing on an evergreen tree it 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:22.880 retains its leaves. But universally, when missiletoe seed is sown, 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.880 it never sprouts at all, and only when passed in 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:30.200 the excrement of birds, particularly the pigeon and the thrush. 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:32.880 Its nature is such that it will not shoot unless 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:36.160 it has been ripened in the stomach of birds. Its 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.560 height does not exceed eighteen inches, and it is evergreen 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.440 and always in leaf. The male plant is fertile in 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.800 the female baron, except that even a fertile plant sometimes 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:50.400 does not bear, and he continues later on discussing mistletoe quote. 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.720 Missiletoe berries can be used for making bird lime if 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:57.239 gathered at harvest time while unripe, for if the rainy 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.200 season has begun. Although they get bigger in size, they 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.520 lose in viscosity. They are then dried and when quite dry, 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.680 pounded and stored in water, and in about twelve days 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.440 they turn rotten. And this is the sole case of 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:15.880 a thing that becomes attractive by rotting the soul case. Wow. Then, 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:19.320 after having been again pounded up, they are put in 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.679 running water and there lose their skins and become viscous 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.920 in their inner flesh. This substance, after being needed with oil, 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:31.560 is birdlime, used for entangling bird's wings by contact with 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.600 it when one wants to snare them. Now, I wanted 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:36.320 to note that I looked this up and found that 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.400 bird lime is real. This is not like one of 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.880 these legendary magic potions that Plenty just credulously reports. It 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.640 is this sticky substance that's used for catching birds and branches. 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.520 Like he describes, it's sort of an artificial spider web 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.120 that we maintain like a glue trap. Yes, it's like 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.280 a tree based glue trap for birds. It has long 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.600 been used in human history for bird trapping. THO it's 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.040 not quite clear like how off and it actually was 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.520 mistiletoe based. But I've also read that birdline was used 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.960 in World War Two to create anti tank weapons known 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.360 as sticky bombs. The idea there would have been um 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.240 like a soldier on foot could potentially stop a tank 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.400 if they've got a bunch of high explosives, and then 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.400 put it in some kind of sticky package and they 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:20.880 can stick to the tank and run away. Oh wow, 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:23.520 I'm not kidding when I when I said that I 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.200 would I would love to do a whole episode just 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.560 an anti tank weapons. There's some fascinating science there, especially 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.320 from World War two. A different things like shaped charges 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.640 and things that the Germans would do to their tanks 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.720 to prevent shaped targets from being shaped charges from being 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.400 a fixed to the side of the tank, essentially like 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:45.520 covering it in a plaster or mud like substance and 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.319 then adding these ridges so that it wouldn't stick. Yeah, 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.800 that's interesting. We we we can definitely come back to that. 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.480 Now I have to revisit again, what is plenty talking 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:56.840 about when he says it is the only thing that 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.960 becomes more useful when rotten. Does he not know about 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:04.240 out pickling or like beer or I don't know, right, Yeah, 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.360 I mean just just yesterday having meal with with my 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:09.960 family and we were commenting on all the things on 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.360 the table that that we're in some way pickled or 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:17.040 or made use of vinegar, etcetera. Well, yeah, I mean, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:19.040 I guess there's like there are multiple ways of pickling, 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.520 so you could just like brine something, but anything involving 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.680 actual fermentation. He's got to be able to appreciate that. 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:28.000 Maybe Plenty just hates fermented foods. I don't know, maybe so. 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.439 So it's tempting to keep reading Plenty for our facts 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.960 on mistletoe, but of course that would be ridiculous. Our 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.440 understanding of the plant has has come along ways over 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.079 the last two thousand years or so, and botanists are 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:43.040 still figuring out things about this baleful plant turned holiday 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:47.800 smooch inducer mistletoe, which is generally referred to UH by 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:52.920 the species UH for Adendron flavicens or viscom album being 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:56.120 just two examples of the species. But it's a parasitic 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.360 plant that grows in or on trees, especially hardwood trees 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.520 such as apple and oak. There are some even though 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.640 a plenty tootles. There are three types. There are some 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.640 known species of mistletoe around the world. It invades the 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:12.240 tree with its roots which seep into the bark of 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.920 the host tree and suck water and nutrients out. So 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.800 it is a plant vampire and this can certainly harm 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:22.520 the host tree and cause branch deformities. But like with 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:25.000 a lot of parasites, the goal here isn't to kill 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.800 the host. That usually works out bad for the parasite. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.560 I mean the parasite needs to live in or on 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.520 the host, so usually it doesn't You don't want to 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:38.600 kill it, right, However, mistletoe camproof fatal to the host 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:41.880 during times of drought, I've read because because one of 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.439 the host plant will have certain reactions in place to converserve, 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.760 to conserve moisture during times of drought, the paras the 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:53.120 parasitic mistletoe just continues to live it up with reckless 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.920 abandoned you know. So it would be you know, like 0:10:56.000 --> 0:11:00.200 something somebody's stealing food out of your fridge and in 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:02.360 a time of famine and like they don't care. They're 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:04.760 just gonna keep eating the same portions. Right, You might 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.360 tighten your belt, but they're not gonna Yeah, mistletoe is 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:09.920 not going to tighten its belt. Now, Parasitic plants in 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.600 general are are fascinating. Oh. I was looking at a 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:16.559 book called How Plants Work, Form, Diversity and Survival from 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:20.720 Princeton University Press by the British botanist Stephen Blackmore, and 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.640 Blackmore writes that it's roughly about one percent of flowering 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.280 plants that are parasitic. Mistletoe is a flowering plant, and 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:31.959 of these, about two thirds or parasitic on the roots 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:34.199 of the host plants, so they'll be down in the roots, 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.040 underground or on the ground, and only about one third 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.760 or parasitic on the host stem. So mistletoe plants are 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.440 the weird of the weird. Not many plants are parasitic, 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.920 and not many of the parasitic plants operate up on 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:47.760 the stem or the trunk of the tree the way 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.480 mistletoe does. And so I think it's worth taking a 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:54.760 look at what kind of equipment this plant vampire uses 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.760 to drain the lifeblood of its host. Because uh, also, okay, 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:01.480 first of all, This struck sure that it uses to 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.079 pierce the tree is called a house story um. It's 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.480 a modified stem or root like structure that gives the 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:12.040 parasite access to the inside of the host plant. And 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.120 I get a strong feeling that if we were plants 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.200 looking at how story a growing into a tree, it 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.880 would be like a vomit inducing image, like like when 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.080 we actually look at a botfly burrowing into human flesh. 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:30.680 This is a fascinating parasitic penetration, and there are multiple 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:32.640 ways that can happen, so you've got these different kinds 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:36.440 of how storia. Sometimes parasitic plants just produce a single 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.120 large house story um which forms a kind of bulbous 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.240 tumor sinking into the surface of the host plant, with 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:46.760 multiple parasitic stems branching off. Sometimes they produce multiple house 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:51.080 storia which take over from the parasites traditional soil root 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.360 once the host has been acquired. And these how storia 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.600 are part of a general class called epic cortical roots. 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.480 Bark penetrating roots in the same way in normal plant 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.520 would put roots into the soil, this one has root 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.360 like structures that pierce the bark of the host plant 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.440 and stab and go down inside, so they puncture the 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:13.120 host plant, They grow inside, they breach the vascular tissue 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:16.079 of the host plant so they can steal nutrients and water, 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:20.720 and they sometimes even form networks of epicortical roots inside 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.959 the host plant. So to go with the vampire analogy, 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:27.720 it doesn't quite capture the full extent of the parasitism here. 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:30.720 You have to imagine a vampire. Okay, so vampire bites 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.600 your neck, Robert, but it doesn't just bite your neck 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:36.880 and suck your blood. Instead, it bites your neck and 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:40.040 then it's fangs begin to grow deep inside your body 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:44.000 and penetrate your veins and arteries and grow into maybe 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:47.760 networks or fang tunnels under your skin. And then maybe 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.680 the vampire also grows new fangs out of its chin 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:52.880 and out of its eyes, and his nipples and stuff 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.920 that keep piercing you again and again. That's a rough image, yes, 0:13:57.000 --> 0:14:00.079 for for plant audiences, this is an R rated feature, 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:03.760 maybe excerated, yeah, I mean essentially growing root like tendrils 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.440 into your body and cause, of course, into the plant. 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:08.840 So one of the things that Blackmore points out in 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:13.319 his book is that many parasitic plants lack chlorophyll because 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.120 they're stealing energy from the host, so they don't need 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:19.640 to make their own food via photosynthesis, And this is 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:23.200 one reason parasitic plants are often in many beautiful colors. 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:27.280 They don't need the green pigment chlorophyll to absorb light 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.560 energy and kick off the chemical process of photosynthesis because 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.520 unlike most plants, they're not making all or any of 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.480 their own food. I've included a couple of pictures here 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:40.040 of other parasitic plants growing off of the stems of hosts, 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.360 like a parasitic climber known as daughter that is this 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:48.800 beautiful orange and blue and yellow. It looks it almost 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:52.120 looks not like a plant. But anyway, mistletoe is usually 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.600 an exception to this, right, Yeah, technically it's a Hinni 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:59.800 parasite parasite parasitic plant that is capable of some photosintse 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.479 at this like you said, so it's not as destructive 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.560 as other forms of plant parasites that simply drain the 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.920 host dry. There are plant parasites that are more in 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.360 the destroyer vein, but missiletoe tends to at least make 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.680 some of its own food via photosynthesis, though it very 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:20.000 species to species, and some species of missiletoe produce relatively 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.840 little food autotrophically, It just depends on which one you're 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:26.320 talking about. Now, we mentioned earlier that botanists are still 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:30.000 figuring out things about missiletoe and how it works, uh, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.280 you know, two thousand years after plenty and interestingly enough, 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:35.920 according to two separate studies that were published in two 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:39.840 thousand eighteen in the journal Current Biology, the plant lacks 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.040 key cellular components that other organisms depend upon to convert 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:48.200 glucose into the energy carrying molecule a TP. It uses 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:52.800 alternative energy pathway which generate energy in a different part 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.600 of the cell. In other words, it lost respiratory capacity 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:01.480 in its evolution, something previously only observed in unicellular organism 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:05.400 in in single cell organisms. So, at least for now, 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.760 unless other discoveries are made, it is seemingly unique among 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.560 multicellular organisms. Basically, over the course of millions of years, 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:14.960 it remodeled the way that it generates energy at the 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.960 molecular level. Now, I think maybe it is time to 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:19.720 take a quick break, and when we come back we 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.280 will discuss some more interesting features of the missiletoe parasite 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:29.560 than alright, we're back. So here's another strange feature of 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.560 missiletoe that Blackmore writes about in his book that I 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:35.680 mentioned a little bit ago. So Blackmore says that some 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:40.720 species of missiletoe exhibit a weird form of mimicry where 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.240 their leaves become similar in appearance to the leaves of 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:47.400 the host plant. So why would this be, right, It's 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:51.120 not like now you you can imagine uses of physical 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.680 mimicry in the animal world, right, like you've got ant 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:57.040 mimics that want to be able to blend in with 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.240 a bunch of ants, or b mimics that want to 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.200 blend in, you know, you want to look like some 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:05.879 other animal. But the host plant in this relationship between 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.160 the parasitic plant and the host plant, like an oak, 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:13.159 doesn't have eyes to deceive, right, So one possi. So 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:17.280 people are wondering why would this happen. One possible explanation 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.600 here that Blackmore mentions seems to be the missiletoe is 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.840 trying to survive by blending in with a host plant 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:27.760 that has foul tasting leaves that herbivores don't like to eat, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.320 when in fact, a grazing herbivore like maybe a deer 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.720 or a giraffe or something. It might try missiletoe and 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.960 find that the parasitic plant is in fact delicious. So 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.840 instead the parasite tends to try to blend in with 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.920 nasty or unpalatable host leaves by having leaves that look 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.040 the same. And that's that's just one possible explanation. And 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.520 this is interesting because I feel like when I see 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.879 missiletoe and actually identify missiletoe, it is because it is 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.439 painfully obvious in its location, such as it is the 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.520 one green thing growing uh in an a tree that 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.760 has lost its leaves for the winter, Yes, or its 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:07.800 stem structure is so obviously different, like the tree might 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.480 have thicker, sparser branches, and then the mistletoe is suddenly 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.879 this puff it looks like a tumble weed or something 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:18.680 many many smaller branches uh and uh. And so sometimes 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:20.919 trees can have natural structures that look like that, that 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.160 is the tree itself, like the witches broom phenomenon, where 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.080 a tree will produce what looks kind of like a 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:30.000 tumbleweed or some crazy tangle of of stems and branches 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:31.480 on part of it. And I think this is just 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.000 usually an indication that something is wrong with the tree, 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.880 but it is the tree itself doing it. But yeah, 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.080 this is interesting anyway because I feel the same way 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.679 you do. Usually, I feel like you can notice mistletoe 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.680 on a tree or parasitic plants on a tree in general, 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.280 because they look so different. Now, I feel like by 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.679 this point most people have seen some depiction of mistletoe. 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.520 There's probably one accompanying this episode at our landing page 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.399 on Stuff to your mind dot com. But if you 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.600 haven't seen it, you've probably seen it in art, holiday decorations, 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.640 or again just hanging in your neighborhood. Mistletoe has pointy, green, 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:09.840 leatherly leaves, usually with with waxy berries that are either 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:13.400 red or white, and these berries are eaten by birds, 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:17.280 who then defecate in other trees, thus spreading the seeds. 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:20.040 But the seeds are also sticky, so they spread as 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:23.240 well when birds have to wipe their beaks on branches 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.320 to clean them off for their feet. Also. Yes, and 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:28.760 this connection with birds is interesting because in olden times 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:32.080 people actually thought the plant emerged from bird poop itself. 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.720 Plenty was saying that way, yeah, and then the name 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.679 only ripen in the stomachs of birds. Right, and this 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:39.959 is also reflected in the name of the planet itself. 0:19:39.960 --> 0:19:44.240 The word mistletoe is derived from the Anglo Saxon word mistel, 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:48.440 which means dung in ton, which means twig. So missileton 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:52.160 is the Old English version of mistletoe. Oh that's interesting. 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:54.560 So you so you do have a tradition of essentially 0:19:54.640 --> 0:20:00.200 kissing under the sticky dung berries. Yeah, throughout the whole 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.280 episode like that. That's the thing I keep coming back to, 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.719 is that, uh, all these these ideas about the plant 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.520 and then the the identity of the planet itself, the 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.520 way the plant functions seems so at odd with this 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:16.480 quirky you just romantic tidbit that has just become not 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.199 a central detail of our holiday traditions, but you know, 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:23.640 at least, um, you know, an identifiable part of it. Now, 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:26.400 as much as we want to associate missiletoe through our 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.680 traditions with with positivity and kissing and all that kind 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.480 of fun stuff, you shouldn't be eating missiletoe. Don't put 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.959 it inside you, that's right. Humans should not hate the berries, 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:39.040 as they can make you ill, and we're talking severe 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:43.560 stomach cramps and diarrhea or even death. In some cases. Yeah, 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:47.600 I was looking up some stats on missiletoe toxicity, and 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.600 so I looked at a an article called Holiday Plants 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:54.080 with Toxic Misconceptions in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:58.479 by Zabrina Evans and Samuel Stealth flug Uh. So they 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:01.479 looked at two different common missiletoe plants that people use 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.280 as decorations. One is American missiletoe, which is for a 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:08.879 dendron seratonin um, and then European missiletoe, which is viscom 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:12.720 album and both are potentially toxic and slightly different ways. 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.800 American missiletoe produces for a toxin, a tox album in, 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.800 and this is toxic to humans, but most small ingestions 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.800 don't produce much of a reaction. European missiletoe is relatively 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:30.480 more toxic. It contains visco toxins, which quote inhibits cellular synthesis, 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:35.679 thereby affecting cells with rapid turnover like gastro intestinal mucosa. 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:40.240 So the mucus in your gut, in your digestive system, 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:43.919 needs to rapidly produce new cells. This inhibits that, and 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.879 there's probably one reason you get reports of gastro intestinal 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.240 distress after people eat it quote after a latent period 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.800 of several hours. Clinical effects from visco toxins can develop 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:58.720 and are primarily gastro intestinal upset, with potential necrotic lesions 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:04.159 resulting in slough thing of the gastro intestinal tract, brady cardia, delirium, 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:07.480 as well as toxicity the liver, central nervous system, kidney, 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:12.320 and adrenals can also occur, although the incidence is not known. Uh. Fortunately, 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:15.639 most cases of ingestion of missiletoe in the literature do 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:19.439 not result in death. But you still should probably avoid 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:21.680 consuming it, and you really do not want to make 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:24.600 missiletoe tease because it seems like that's where the danger 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:28.480 gets super gets gets real, right, and and so obviously 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:30.280 one of the problems here too would be if you 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.520 keep missiletoe in your home, you would potentially have to 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:37.680 worry about children or pets getting ahold of the berries. 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:42.400 So um, it's interesting what you said earlier about about 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:47.119