View allAll Photos Tagged MISTLETOE
Many of the leafless trees sported decorations of mistletoe -- mistletoe is actually a parasitic plant, growing in clumps in the branches.
A dense cluster of western hemlock branches (brooms) caused by hemlock dwarf mistletoe can create valuable wildlife habitat structures. USDA Forest Service photo by Robin Mulvey.
While exploring, Jordan and I found a mistletoe. How could you not take a picture under it? Unfortunately, my favorite is very grainy and this one is blurry. Oh well, I still love it.
Merry Christmas, everyone! This common plant is hemiparasitic, meaning it can photosynthesize but gets water and some nutrients from a wide range of host trees.
This is our only little girl and she is very special! She is very very sweet and tender. She is calm and such a cutie pie! Like a lot of doodles she loves to be held and just wants to be with you all the time!
Wikipedia info:
Mistletoe is the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic plants in the order Santalales that grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub. The name was originally applied to Viscum album (European Mistletoe, Santalaceae), the only species native in Great Britain and much of Europe. The distribution in England appears to be limited to the South of the country.
Mistletoe plants grow on a wide range of host trees, and commonly reduce their growth but can kill them with heavy infestation. Viscum album can parasitise more than 200 tree and shrub species. Almost all mistletoes are hemi-parasites, bearing evergreen leaves that do some photosynthesis, and using the host mainly for water and mineral nutrients. However, the mistletoe first sprouts from bird feces[citation needed] on the trunk of the tree and indeed in its early stages of life takes it nutrients from this source.[ci
European mistletoe, Viscum album, figured prominently in Greek mythology, and is believed to be The Golden Bough of Aeneas, ancestor of the Romans
According to ancient Christmas custom, a man and a woman who meet under a hanging of mistletoe were obliged to kiss. The custom may be of Scandinavian origin.[16] It was described in 1820 by American author Washington Irving in his "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon":
"The mistletoe is still hung up in farm-houses and kitchens at Christmas, and the young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under it, plucking each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked the privilege ceases."[17]
Mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens) is the state floral emblem for the state of Oklahoma. The state did not have an official flower, leaving mistletoe as the assumed state flower until the Oklahoma Rose was designated as such in 2004.[18]
Mistletoe is the County flower of Herefordshire. It was voted such in 2002 following a poll by the wild plant conservation charity Plantlife.[19]
In England the distribution appears to be limited to the South of England excluding Cornwall according to the distribution map on my RSPB wildlife book.
This was actually one of my first photographs. I really enjoyed making color key images out of everything.
A design inspired by mistletoe. Designed in Blender 3D, rendered with the Cycles engine. All rights reserved by the image's author.
USA West Coast Fly Drive holiday in the autumn of 1988.
Once in Arizona, we headed up towards the Grand Canyon, where we stopped for a couple of nights.
Legend of Mistletoe
Mystical power of mistletoe and the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe owe itself to the legend of Goddess Frigga and her son Balder. Frigga was the Goddess of Love and her son, Balder, was the God of the Summer Sun. Once, Balder dreamt of his death. He was worried and told his mother about the strange dream. Frigga was worried not only for the life of her son but also for the life on Earth because she knew that without Balder, all life on Earth would come to an end. Thus, she did her utmost to avoid such a mishap and went everywhere and to every being in air, water, fire and earth to extract a promise that they would never harm her son. She was promised safety of her son by every animal and plant under and above the Earth.
However, Loki, the God of Evil, who was the enemy of Balder and always had evil designs in his mind, was aware that there was one plant that Frigga had overlooked. It grew on apple and oak trees and was known as Mistletoe. Thus, Loki made an arrow and placed Mistletoe at its tip. He then beguiled the blind brother of Balder known as Hoder, the God of Winter, and made him shoot this arrow at Balder. Balder immediately was poisoned and died. Everybody was worried as the Earth turned cold and life became dreary. Every creature tried to bring Balder back to life for three days but it was finally Frigga who managed to revive her son with the help of Mistletoe. Her tears on the plant became pearly white berries and she blessed the plant anyone who stands under the mistletoe plant would never be harmed and would be entitled to a kiss as a token of love.
9. Mistletoe is only a parasite. (msh1208-9 and msh1208)
Dwarf Mistletoe (Arceuthobium americanum) on Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta). June 1995 Prince George, British Columbia. The mistletoe did so well that most of the needles on two of my pines had turned brown and the trees had to be removed. I Lost the rest of my Pine stand eleven years later when the trees were killed by Northern Pine beetle.
(scan of 35 mm print imaged by Canon A-1)