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The winter holidays are upon us and the creepiest tradition lurks: Kissing under the mistletoe.
First, y'all aren't just kissing a parasite, you're kissing *under* a parasite. Now you're curious and want to know how this relates to poisons. Well, as the cool kids say, thread.
First, y'all aren't just kissing a parasite, you're kissing *under* a parasite. Now you're curious and want to know how this relates to poisons. Well, as the cool kids say, thread.
Mistletoes, belonging to the Santalaceae family - yes, Santa, I'm not making this up - are actual parasites. They have the ability to photosynthesize, but draw nutrients and water from its host tree, burrowing through the bark into the wood. Eww. [Boobook48 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)]
![Mistletoes, belonging to the Santalaceae family - yes, Santa, I'm not making this up - are actual parasites. They have the ability to photosynthesize, but draw nutrients and water from its host tree, burrowing through the bark into the wood. Eww. [Boobook48 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EozVv9DUYAAIzMa.jpg "Mistletoes, belonging to the Santalaceae family - yes, Santa, I'm not making this up - are actual parasites. They have the ability to photosynthesize, but draw nutrients and water from its host tree, burrowing through the bark into the wood. Eww. [Boobook48 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)]")
Mistletoes grow all over the place, but they tend to blend in. Winter is the best time to spot them. When deciduous trees dump their leaves you'll see round, green clumps of mistletoe. I pass by an infested tree every day going to and from work. [Orin Zebest (CC BY 2.0)]
![Mistletoes grow all over the place, but they tend to blend in. Winter is the best time to spot them. When deciduous trees dump their leaves you'll see round, green clumps of mistletoe. I pass by an infested tree every day going to and from work. [Orin Zebest (CC BY 2.0)]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EozWcarUwAIvuVZ.jpg "Mistletoes grow all over the place, but they tend to blend in. Winter is the best time to spot them. When deciduous trees dump their leaves you'll see round, green clumps of mistletoe. I pass by an infested tree every day going to and from work. [Orin Zebest (CC BY 2.0)]")
So mistletoe's story? It could be Norse mythology. God Baldur's mom, Frigg, cast a spell that no plant on earth could harm her son, but since mistletoe doesn't grow from the earth, Loki made a spear of it and killed Baldur. To honor Baldur Frigg made mistletoe a symbol of love.
Who knows if that's true. The part about kissing under the mistletoe was probably started by some horny young dude trying to creepily catch a kiss.
But you're here for the poisons! Mistletoe is indeed poisonous. They contain several small peptide-based toxins like viscotoxin. They are hemolytic, destroying red blood cells, and depolarize cell membranes in skeletal and cardiac tissue. [Viscotoxin from RCSB Protein Data Bank]
![But you're here for the poisons! Mistletoe is indeed poisonous. They contain several small peptide-based toxins like viscotoxin. They are hemolytic, destroying red blood cells, and depolarize cell membranes in skeletal and cardiac tissue. [Viscotoxin from RCSB Protein Data Bank]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EozYLI6UwAA1w9J.png "But you're here for the poisons! Mistletoe is indeed poisonous. They contain several small peptide-based toxins like viscotoxin. They are hemolytic, destroying red blood cells, and depolarize cell membranes in skeletal and cardiac tissue. [Viscotoxin from RCSB Protein Data Bank]")
So are people actually sickened by mistletoe? Yes. About 250 cases a year are called into U.S. Poison Control Centers. Most, 90% are children that accidentally eat a berry or leaf. Worst case scenario is they get an upset stomach and you just ride it out. No deaths reported.
But with the advent of "natural" remedies, people do make decoctions and teas from it. It's a wonderful purgative, aka a laxative that promotes more liquid stools than solidish. Eww, y'all are kissing under that nasty thing.
So that's the short parasitic, poisonous, purgative thread on mistletoe, now if you'll excuse me...
Just one more thing. Mistletoe has explosive reproduction. It ejects seeds from the berry at 60 miles per hour, at distances up to 50 feet, in the hopes it lands on another tree or bush. I hope you all appreciate how HARD it is for me not to make jokes here. [pic by USDA]
![Just one more thing. Mistletoe has explosive reproduction. It ejects seeds from the berry at 60 miles per hour, at distances up to 50 feet, in the hopes it lands on another tree or bush. I hope you all appreciate how HARD it is for me not to make jokes here. [pic by USDA]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EozjwjIU8AYxf_b.jpg "Just one more thing. Mistletoe has explosive reproduction. It ejects seeds from the berry at 60 miles per hour, at distances up to 50 feet, in the hopes it lands on another tree or bush. I hope you all appreciate how HARD it is for me not to make jokes here. [pic by USDA]")
Here's the tree I pass by daily in Raleigh, infested with mistletoe. So if you live in treed areas right now, look up, you'll probably find some and you, too, can annoy your partner or kids with random mistletoe facts.
