Mistletoe- the Plant of Love

Kissing beneath the mistletoe is an ancient practice during Christmas. The practice has its origin in Norse mythology. Baldr was the Norse god of vegetation.His mother Frigga saw in a dream that he was going to be killed. So she made all the plants and animals and inanimate objects promise not to harm him. But she forgot the mistletoe. The mischievous god Loki made the blind Hoor kill Baldr with a spade made of mistletoe. With the death of Baldr, winter came to the world. The gods brought back Baldr to life.Mother Frigga declared that from then on, the mistletoe would bring love in stead of death into the world.

I discovered the mistletoe growing on my lemon tree when I went on the roof to photograph the Bignonia venusta flowering on the lemon tree. The oval leaves and the flowers of the parasite were unmistakable.

The European Mistletoe, Viscum album is a semi- parasite which lodges itself on trees. It sucks its nutrients from the host tree- so it is also called the Vampire Plant. Its leaves are green and so can make their food.

The mistletoe was a symbol of immortality for the Druids and a symbol of good fortune for the the Romans. Although it is a Hemi parasite, the mistletoe does not kill the host tree, but helps in the pollination by attracting birds.