Spring Break
Mistletoe: a brief history
Emily Volz
Issue date: 12/8/08 Section: News
The custom transformed into an exchange of kissing that the English later adopted, according to Brockenbrough.
Regardless of how the tradition started, kissing underneath the mistletoe is still embraced by many people, including UConn students.
"I love mistletoe," said Alice Hughes, a 5th semester chemistry major. "I made a gingerbread house over Thanksgiving break and it had two gummy bears kissing under the mistletoe."
"It's an intrinsic part of the holiday spirit," she said. "It's kind of like, 'peace on Earth, good will toward men; just kiss him.'"
Hughes also appreciates the custom because of the opportunity it presents, "It gives people who are too shy to make the first move a chance to kiss someone."
Mistletoe is not a single plant, but a group of plants that survive through parasitism.
"Parasitic plants, in general, put down haustorium," said Clinton Morse, manager of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Plant Growth Facilities.
Morse explained haustorium as the tip or root of a parasitic plant.
"Those basically penetrate the bark and go right into the plant," he said.
"The plant will generally spend quite a bit of its life cycle inside the plant," Morse said, explaining that the mistletoe gets nutrition from inside the host plant and usually only surfaces to flower.
He said that although people commonly associate mistletoe with the green leaves they see during the holidays, some types of mistletoe do not grow leaves at all. The mistletoe growing at the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Plant Growth Facilities is one of those that does not have leaves.
"The one we have is desert mistletoe from South Africa," Morse said.
According to Morse, much of the mistletoe sold during the holiday season is cut, dried and sometimes painted months before December. Hundreds of years ago, mistletoe was cut by Europeans and used while it was still fresh, Morse said.
Regardless of how the tradition started, kissing underneath the mistletoe is still embraced by many people, including UConn students.
"I love mistletoe," said Alice Hughes, a 5th semester chemistry major. "I made a gingerbread house over Thanksgiving break and it had two gummy bears kissing under the mistletoe."
"It's an intrinsic part of the holiday spirit," she said. "It's kind of like, 'peace on Earth, good will toward men; just kiss him.'"
Hughes also appreciates the custom because of the opportunity it presents, "It gives people who are too shy to make the first move a chance to kiss someone."
Mistletoe is not a single plant, but a group of plants that survive through parasitism.
"Parasitic plants, in general, put down haustorium," said Clinton Morse, manager of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Plant Growth Facilities.
Morse explained haustorium as the tip or root of a parasitic plant.
"Those basically penetrate the bark and go right into the plant," he said.
"The plant will generally spend quite a bit of its life cycle inside the plant," Morse said, explaining that the mistletoe gets nutrition from inside the host plant and usually only surfaces to flower.
He said that although people commonly associate mistletoe with the green leaves they see during the holidays, some types of mistletoe do not grow leaves at all. The mistletoe growing at the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Plant Growth Facilities is one of those that does not have leaves.
"The one we have is desert mistletoe from South Africa," Morse said.
According to Morse, much of the mistletoe sold during the holiday season is cut, dried and sometimes painted months before December. Hundreds of years ago, mistletoe was cut by Europeans and used while it was still fresh, Morse said.
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Monica Ackers
posted 3/07/09 @ 12:46 AM EST
Nice review! Thanks!
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