West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Mistletoe

The kissing plant has a dark side.

December 24, 2008
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

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It's almost as big a part of Christmas as a Frazier Fir, to some, it's a lot more fun. We're talking about mistltoe. It's a romantic twist to a religoius holiday with mystical beginnings.

P.J. Harmon/DNR Botanist says:
"Ancient people, like the Druids, believed it had magical power encouraging romance and also the Druids believed it was a place where the spirit of the tree lived after the leaves dropped off the tree and died."

That evolved into people kissing the mistltoe, and, well, the rest is history.

Getting to the kiss takes a little work. Well, maybe not work because it involves a shotgun and the woods.

P.J. Harmon/DNR Botanist says:
"We have the most abundance in WV in southwestern WV and there is a great tradition of going out with a shotgun and shooting up in the trees, they would shoot it literally out of the trees, gather is up, divide it and sell it."

Patrick McMurtry/Eyewitness News says:
"You might like to take a shotgun out and blast some of this mistletoe out of a tree, but if you're like me, you'd probably wind up with this, some pretty plain mistletoe. You could come down to a place like the Capitol Market and buy some nice mistletoe with nice berries. Of course, if you're watching this on Christmas Eve, it's a little late to buy, but it's never too late to begin planning for next year, take it from me."

Mistletoe makes for fun and romance in your home, but in the woods, well, let's just say it relies on the kindness of strangers. It's a parasite.

P.J. Harmon/DNR Botanist says:
"It's a plant that rather than making roots, it makes something, fingerlike projections and when the little sticky seeds land on the tops of trees up high, it pierces the side of the bark, it starts sapping nutrients and minerals from the trees."

Unfortunately, many of the trees will eventually die....killed by the kissing plant. For West Virginia Wildlife, I'm Patrick McMurtry, Eyewitness News.

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