This season, one can walk into any number of stores filled with a myriad of holiday decorations. Many of which are covered in a number of fake, red berries that are supposed to look like holly or other red-berried winter plants. Some are obviously better replicas than others.  

But as a “plant guy”, nothing bothers me more than the fake mistletoe. No one making them must know what it looks like. Sometimes they get the leaves right and are so close to making an accurate fake mistletoe and then, at the last second, before they can cross the finish line, they slap on some red berries before they ship them out. Others don’t even try and just use holly as a stand-in instead.  

Mistletoe has always had a certain mystique to it. Probably from the air of romance that surrounds it, but I like to imagine it’s because not many people know what it is, or looks like, or where to find it.  

In this part of the country we have one mistletoe, American Mistletoe (Phoradendron leucarpum). It and its relatives are in the Sandalwood family. American Mistletoe has leathery, oval-shaped, oppositely arranged leaves, and often have small white berries during the winter. This time of year is actually a great time to spot American Mistletoe. It’s evergreen, just look for bare trees with clumps of green branches and there’s a high chance that clump is a mistletoe plant. 

Mistletoes are actually parasitic plants that grow on the branches and trunks of trees. Specifically, they are hemiparasites, meaning that they only take in water and nutrients from their hosts, but still perform photosynthesis themselves. They do this by tapping into their host’s vascular tissue with structures called haustoria.  

Mistletoe berries are toxic to humans, but are beloved by birds and are important winter food sources for birds like Hermit Thrushes, Eastern Bluebirds, American Robins, and Cedar Waxwings. The berries themselves have a sticky, white flesh that helps the seeds stick to the bark of trees and infect new hosts.  

I find parasitic plants to be fascinating and mistletoe is by far the easiest one to find in our area. Granted it may be one of the few plants you need binoculars to get a good look at most of the time, but if you manage to find a tree with many fruiting mistletoes it may be a good birding tree for the winter. You may even find yourself standing under it with someone special.