Sheena Patterson of Oxford Garden Design on the traditions of Christmas greenery

Here’s a Christmas trivia pursuit question for you – what is the common name for Viscum album?

Last week while making merry at my neighbours’, eating mince pies, drinking mulled wine and taking part in a Christmas quiz, this question was thrown at me.

No pressure but... “Sheena will know the answer to this one.” Sheena, having studied Latin at school, confidently proclaimed to the rest of her team the answer – egg white.

No particular thought having been given to the relevance of eggs to Christmas as we boldly wrote this answer down – the wrong answer that is.

To be fair, I wasn’t far off. Egg white is known as albumen, which comes from the latin word for white and Viscum is from the Latin Visco meaning sticky.

So you might see how a logical mistake was made, but you might also have figured out that Viscum album is, in actual fact, mistletoe, the literal translation being ‘sticky white goo’ and much more relevant to a Christmas quiz.

Neither a shrub nor a tree, European mistletoe is an aerial parasite, and usually grows on soft-barked, deciduous trees, quite commonly apple trees.

It roots down inside the tree and takes nutrients from the host.

I recently saw an old apple tree literally laden with mistletoe and although the tree was alive, it was quite badly damaged.

Mistletoe was a sacred and magical herb to our Celtic ancestors. On the winter solstice it was parted from its tree with a golden sickle by a white-robed druid.

Apparently kissing under the mistletoe comes from a Norse legend, where Freya the goddess of love passed the rule that whoever stepped under it should receive a kiss.

So watch where you stand, (or at least who’s there with you) under the mistletoe at this year’s Christmas party.

Mistletoe is an interesting plant to be associated with love, especially for the cynical among us, as it is parasitic – taking water and nutrients from its host tree.

Even though it was used for many years as a medicine, the berries are toxic and can cause vomiting, severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea. Could this be love-sick?

At any other time of year it would seem strange to merrily gather “decorations” from the woodlands (let alone entire trees!) but once a year off we trot to garden centres or the woods and adorn our homes with foliage and berries. It is as if, knowing that we will be sheltering inside for some time, we need to keep little reminders of the natural world as companions to get us through the long, bleak winter. (Mistletoe is an endangered species in the UK, so it shouldn’t be harvested from the wild; always ask permission from the owner before gathering your free Christmas decorations.)

Originally holly was hung up around the home to ward off evil spirits and some people believed it provided a hiding place for faerie folk. It was then adopted by Christianity and came to represent the thorny crown of Jesus, the berries representing his blood. Ivy, like holly, remains green during the winter months and so was thought to possess magical properties when all other trees and shrubs had lost their leaves and plants had died.

This Christmas deck your halls with boughs of holly and ivy… but please beware the mistletoe!

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