Mistletoe

2nd December 2023

Have I not reason, think you, to look pale?

These two have ticed me hither to this place,

A barren, detested vale you see it is;

The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean,

Overcome with moss and baleful mistletoe.

TAMARA: Titus Andronicus, Act 2, Scene 3

MISTLETOE (Viscum album)

Mistletoe makes only one, rather sinister, appearance in Shakespeare. This is not the Mistletoe of Christmas parties and stolen kisses. This is the Mistletoe of dark and dangerous forests. Perhaps Shakespeare was influenced by the writings of Roman authors such as Pliny the Elder who highlighted the role of Mistletoe in Druidic rites and sacrifices. Mistletoe was also used in Shakespeare’s time and in the Roman and Greek world to make ‘bird-lime’, a sticky glue which was smeared on branches to trap small birds. Shakepeare makes no mention of any of the Scandinavia myths relating to Mistletoe and Baldur the Beautiful.

John Gerard, a contemporary botanist, describes Mistletoe in a more poetic light than Shakespeare manages: “Mistletoe hath many slender branches spread overthwart one another, and wrapped or interlaced one within another, the bark whereof is of a light green or Popinjay (parrot) colour”.

Mistletoe is a hemiparasitic plant which derives some of its nutrients from its host tree (Apples, Hawthorn, Lime, Oak etc) but can also carry out photosynthesis for some of its food. It is connected with the Mistle Thrush because it was believed that is was spread to new hosts in the dung of Thrushes. Mistletoe is particularly associated with Herefordshire and Worcestershire. It is the County Flower for Herefordshire and Tenbury Wells holds an annual Mistletoe Market and Festival each year.

NEWS: New Mistletoe Citizen Science Project Launched. Read more at Jonathan Briggs Mistletoe Diary Blog. Watch the Youtube Information on how to take part.

More Information

BSBI Plant Atlas 2020: Mistletoe

Gerard, John, 1597 (first edition) The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plants (access the 1636 edition via Archive.org)

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History (Book XVI: Chapter 95: Historical Facts Connected with the Mistletoe) (Access online via Perseus Tufts)

Tenbury Mistletoe Association: Visit Site