Mistletoe Kissing under the mistletoe is a well-known Christmas tradition, and magic and mystery have surrounded this evergreen plant throughout history.

In this article

Varieties Mistletoe myths

How it reproduces Growing tips

Viscum album is the most common mistletoe in Europe and can be found in southern England and Wales.

It's a parasitic evergreen shrub that grows high in the branches of old trees and extracts essential nutrients and water by sending roots into the bark. The most popular host is the apple tree, although it can also be found on lime, ash, hawthorn and other trees with soft bark.

With the gradual decline of the apple industry in England, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find home-grown mistletoe. Most shop-brought mistletoe comes from Brittany or Normandy.

Druids believed mistletoe growing on oak trees was the most sacred form of the plant and that it offered protection from all evil, as well as being the source of much magic. The early Christian church banned the use of mistletoe because of its association with Druids.

The mystery of the mistletoe's method of reproduction led many people to link the plant with spontaneous generation, fertility and aphrodisiacs. In medieval times, women wishing to conceive would wrap mistletoe around their waists and wrists to increase fertility.

Traditionally in Scandinavia, if enemies met under mistletoe they would lay down their weapons and not fight until the following day.

According to Scandinavian legend, the god Balder the Beautiful was killed by a spear of mistletoe and his grieving mother Frigg, the goddess of love and beauty, banished the plant to the top of trees. When Balder came back to life, Frigg made mistletoe a symbol of love.

In Brittany the plant is known as Herbe de la Croix because it is thought that Christ's cross was made of mistletoe wood.

The plant reproduces itself naturally with the assistance of birds. Birds, such as the missel thrush, eat the berries. Their droppings, which contain the seeds, land on a tree's bark and germinate.

Sometimes the sticky, viscous flesh containing the seed sticks to the bird's beak. The bird wipes it off by rubbing its beak against the bark of a neighbouring tree. The seed sticks to the bark and starts to grow.

Jonathan Briggs runs the Mistletoe Matters Consultancy and is a national mistletoe expert, with over 25 years' experience of working with parasitic plants. We asked him for his key tips on how best to propagate mistletoe.

"Growing the parasitic mistletoe isn't as difficult or mysterious as many old gardening books make out. The seeds simply need to be 'glued' with their natural viscin, onto a suitable young, thin-barked branch in the open air. There's no need to 'plant' the seeds into cuts or flaps of bark, place them in cracks of fissured old bark or cover them with cloth.

"The seeds germinate best when harvested in February, but you can use berries bought at Christmas. Keep them cool in the shed, and squeeze the seeds out in February (soaking the stored berries for a few hours before seed removal may help).

"Choose a host tree carefully. Mistletoe will grow on a very wide range of tree species but has a distinct preference for cultivated apple. About 40 per cent of all British mistletoe is on apple, so always choose this if you have one. Other rose family shrubs are also suitable (though not pear or plum) so do try hawthorns, whitebeams and exotics like cotoneaster too. Poplars, limes and willows are also suitable. Pea family shrubs and trees, especially False Acacia , are also worth a try.

"Try to plant as many seeds as possible, at least 20 at once, as some will die or be eaten. And, as mistletoe plants are either male or female, remember that you'll need at least two plants if you want berries.

"Simply squeeze the seed from each berry and stick it, with its own glue, to branches 1.5m or so up the tree and on the side or underside of a branch at least 20mm diameter. Mark each branch loosely with string, as it's very easy to forget where you put them!

"Germination is fairly rapid and a tiny green shoot will appear and bend to contact the host bark. (Do remember the mistletoe is a parasite, and will distort the growth of that branch from now on.)

"At this early stage the tiny plants are particularly susceptible to grazing wildlife. They're also prone to dehydration until they’ve made a host connection. But if all goes well the tiny green shoot will survive and remain, visibly unchanged, until the following February. Only then will the new mistletoe start to develop. It may be four or five years before your first berries appear."

For more advice visit www.mistletoe.org.uk