It’s a holiday tradition. Get some mistletoe, hang it in the house or hold it above your head, find that special someone, stand together under the plant and smooch away. Seems innocent enough, but ...

CC0 Usage Conditions ApplyClick for more information. We often think of holiday rom-coms and romantic kisses when we see mistletoe. But did you know this festive plant is actually a parasite, stealing ...

Mistletoe is a richly symbolic winter plant with an unusual life cycle. With more than half of England's traditional orchards lost since the mid-20th century, it would be easy to assume mistletoe is ...

Pucker up, it’s time to hang your mistletoe! One of my favorite tales about mistletoe comes from Norse mythology, which started with Freya, the goddess of love and mother of Balder, the summer sun.

As a young child living in Virginia, I recall kids going door to door selling sprigs of mistletoe in the weeks before Christmas. My mother always bought some and hung it along with some holly over a ...

Stealing a smooch under the mistletoe is a time-honored holiday tradition — but the word itself has an origin that invokes the exact opposite of romance. As part of NPR's "Word of the Week" series, we ...

With Christmas arriving at a super-fast pace this year, we will be decorating our homes with evergreen trees, wreaths and of course, mistletoe. Who hasn’t been kissed under this plant, either in years ...

University of Portsmouth provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK. Mistletoe is a richly symbolic winter plant with an unusual life cycle. With more than half of England’s traditional ...