WEBVTT - How Does Mistletoe Work?

0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:06.960
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:11.400
<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Boga bom Here. Hanging mistletoe over a

0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:14.160
<v Speaker 1>doorway during the end of year holiday season is a

0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.840
<v Speaker 1>tradition from northern Europe that's spread around the world. But

0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.640
<v Speaker 1>have you ever stopped think about the story behind it?

0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:24.200
<v Speaker 1>Where did this come from? Why would we kiss someone

0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:29.320
<v Speaker 1>just because we're standing underneath some particular shrubbery. The word

0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:33.040
<v Speaker 1>mistletoe is derived from the Anglo Saxon words missile meaning dung,

0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.640
<v Speaker 1>and ten meaning twig. It's thought that the plant is

0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.279
<v Speaker 1>named for bird droppings on branches, which is precisely how

0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.320
<v Speaker 1>mistletoe grows. Birds eat the berries, then sometimes poop the

0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.280
<v Speaker 1>seeds onto the branches of trees where the plant lives.

0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:52.440
<v Speaker 1>Mistletoe is a hemi parasitic plant that grows on tree branches,

0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.720
<v Speaker 1>often of hardwoods like oak or apple. As mistletoe grows

0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.480
<v Speaker 1>on a branch, it uses its roots to invade the bark,

0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.520
<v Speaker 1>which allows mistletoe to absorb water and nutrients from the tree.

0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.920
<v Speaker 1>It's called hemi parasitic because it doesn't get all of

0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.240
<v Speaker 1>its nutrients this way. It can also photosynthesize energy from

0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.960
<v Speaker 1>the sun with its green leaves. Sometimes mistletoe might harm

0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:17.880
<v Speaker 1>a tree or cause deformities in its branches, but it

0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.679
<v Speaker 1>usually doesn't kill its host, because, after all, if the

0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:26.240
<v Speaker 1>host tree dies, the mistletoe dies. Also, it's not uncommon

0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:28.720
<v Speaker 1>for one missiletoe plant to grow right on top of

0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.319
<v Speaker 1>another one. If that happens. Researchers from the University of

0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:35.640
<v Speaker 1>California Riverside found that the plants may share the tree

0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.440
<v Speaker 1>by relying more on photosynthesis for food to lessen the

0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:45.399
<v Speaker 1>harm caused to their host. Aside from pooping, birds also

0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.360
<v Speaker 1>help spread missletoe seeds by eating the fruit of the berries,

0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.200
<v Speaker 1>which are sticky with juice, then wiping their beaks on

0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:54.720
<v Speaker 1>a tree's bark to clean off those sticky seeds. The

0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.400
<v Speaker 1>stickiness helps the seeds stay in the tree rather than

0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.640
<v Speaker 1>falling to the ground. Within six weeks, the mistletoe plant

0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.080
<v Speaker 1>begins growing, although it takes several years to flower and

0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.480
<v Speaker 1>produce berries of its own. There may have been a

0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.120
<v Speaker 1>bit of confusion historically about the plant springing from birds

0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.560
<v Speaker 1>themselves rather than from seeds that the birds had spread.

0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.240
<v Speaker 1>There are a number of plants around the world that

0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.880
<v Speaker 1>fit into this category and are commonly called mistletoe, but

0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:28.040
<v Speaker 1>a few species from two genera are associated with Christmas

0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:34.360
<v Speaker 1>and related holidays, Phorodendron and viscom They both have smooth, small,

0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:38.000
<v Speaker 1>evergreen leaves and bear small, round berries that are either

0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:43.119
<v Speaker 1>waxy white or bright red in color. And during winters

0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.760
<v Speaker 1>and areas of the northern Hemisphere with deciduous forests where

0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.360
<v Speaker 1>trees lose their leaves until spring, the mistletoe is easy

0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.320
<v Speaker 1>to spot because its leaves stay green all year long.

0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:58.280
<v Speaker 1>But aside from this basic fact, how did this plant

0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.880
<v Speaker 1>sink its roots into Christmas? The holiday has assimilated a

0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.680
<v Speaker 1>wide range of customs and traditions from many cultures, and

0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:11.880
<v Speaker 1>mistletoe is one of them. Lots of myths around mistletoe.

0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:15.120
<v Speaker 1>For example, north Smith's dating back to the eighth century,

0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:17.840
<v Speaker 1>said that mistletoe had the power to raise people from

0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.440
<v Speaker 1>the dead, relating to the resurrection of Boulder, the god

0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.680
<v Speaker 1>of the summer sun. To sum up this legend, Boulder's mother,

0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.920
<v Speaker 1>the goddess Frigga, didn't want him to die, so she

0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.200
<v Speaker 1>went to all the elements and plants and animals to

0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.720
<v Speaker 1>ask that they never harm him. But she forgot to

0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.600
<v Speaker 1>ask the simple mistletoe or perhaps having no trunk of

0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.600
<v Speaker 1>its own, it couldn't be asked at any rate. The

0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:47.080
<v Speaker 1>trickster Loki clocked this loophole, and Boulder ended up dead.

0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.360
<v Speaker 1>The tears that Frigga cried landed on the mistletoe and

0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:55.560
<v Speaker 1>became its berries, and Boulder was brought back. She declared

0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.800
<v Speaker 1>it a grand plant and kissed everyone who walked underneath

0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:03.360
<v Speaker 1>that out of gratitude for getting her son back. Another

0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.800
<v Speaker 1>myth in mistletoe's past comes from what's now the British Isles.

0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:11.560
<v Speaker 1>In the first century, Celtic people's associated mistletoe with miracles,

0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:16.200
<v Speaker 1>from increased fertility to curing diseases to protection from witchcraft

0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.600
<v Speaker 1>in the ceremony after the new moon following the winter solstice,

0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.760
<v Speaker 1>and druids would cut mistletoe from oak trees, using the

0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.840
<v Speaker 1>white cloth catch it to avoid letting it touch the ground,

0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:31.680
<v Speaker 1>which is still considered unlucky by some. Spriggs were distributed

0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.640
<v Speaker 1>for wearing or hanging in doorways to bring people good fortune.

0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:41.800
<v Speaker 1>The origin of the tradition of kissing under missiletobe is vague.

0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.200
<v Speaker 1>It may have to do with that story of Friga

0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:49.080
<v Speaker 1>and Boulder, but also ancient Greeks considered mistletobe and naphrodisiac.

0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:53.240
<v Speaker 1>Associations of the plant with fertility persisted around Europe through

0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.560
<v Speaker 1>the Middle Ages, at least perhaps because of the color

0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.920
<v Speaker 1>and consistency of the juice of those white berries. Mistletoe

0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:03.800
<v Speaker 1>may have also been associated with the Roman winter festivals,

0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.279
<v Speaker 1>saturnalia and so yeah, just lots of ties to winter

0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:13.480
<v Speaker 1>celebrations and love or lust. Historically, before our modern missletoe

0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.000
<v Speaker 1>practices in England, young women may have been encouraged to

0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.400
<v Speaker 1>place a sprig of the plant under their pillow at night,

0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.560
<v Speaker 1>like a kid would place a tooth for the tooth fairy,

0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.039
<v Speaker 1>but instead of getting money, the mistletoe would supposedly bring

0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:30.720
<v Speaker 1>a dream about the woman's future beloved, and burning a

0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:34.560
<v Speaker 1>missletoe plant not under one's pillow was also thought for

0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:39.159
<v Speaker 1>tell a woman's marital bliss or black thereof a missletoe

0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:43.200
<v Speaker 1>that burned steadily prophesied a healthy marriage, while fickle flames

0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:47.800
<v Speaker 1>may have meant an ill suited partnership. A modern missletoe

0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.120
<v Speaker 1>etiquette does vary and can seem a little pushy to me,

0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.800
<v Speaker 1>like do whatever you want, no matter what shrubbery is

0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:58.200
<v Speaker 1>over your head, But supposedly Anyone who kisses under mistletoe

0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.839
<v Speaker 1>will have good luck in should remove one berry when

0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.760
<v Speaker 1>they plant that kiss. When all the berries are gone

0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.640
<v Speaker 1>from that sprig, the plant's store of luck is up.

0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.840
<v Speaker 1>A mistletoe has also symbolized peace. Ancient Norse tails say

0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.120
<v Speaker 1>that enemies who encountered each other under trees bearing mistletoe

0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.120
<v Speaker 1>would lay down their arms, embrace each other, and agree

0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.479
<v Speaker 1>to a truce until the next day. This bit of

0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:28.919
<v Speaker 1>goodwill might have also helped prompt modern practices. Meanwhile, in

0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.800
<v Speaker 1>the tradition of using mistletoe medicinally, extracts from the plant

0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.919
<v Speaker 1>are commonly used as complementary or alternative medicines in Europe

0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.080
<v Speaker 1>for conditions like cancer, but the FDA has not yet

0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.800
<v Speaker 1>approved them for use in the US. If you do

0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.160
<v Speaker 1>have real mistletoe hanging in your home this season, note

0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:51.239
<v Speaker 1>that European varieties are fairly toxic to humans and some pets.

0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.000
<v Speaker 1>American varieties are less so, but since you may not

0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.120
<v Speaker 1>be sure which kind you're standing under, it's best practice

0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.479
<v Speaker 1>to call poison control or of trinarian if anyone does

0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:04.880
<v Speaker 1>eat any missletoe, and keep it in places where pets

0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:06.680
<v Speaker 1>and children won't be able to get to it just

0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:14.160
<v Speaker 1>in case. Today's episode is based on the article how

0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:16.880
<v Speaker 1>Missletoe Works on how stuff Works dot Com, written by

0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.840
<v Speaker 1>Barbara Zazinski and Sam Abramson. Brain Stuff is production off

0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.200
<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com,

0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.600
<v Speaker 1>and it is produced by Tyler Clang. The four more

0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.360
<v Speaker 1>podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.360
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,