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. Hoping to keep him immortal, Freya ordered all living things to never harm him. Balder’s enemy, Loki, discovered that Freya didn’t secure a promise from the mistletoe. Loki crafted an arrow from mistletoe that Hodor, the blind god of winter, used to kill Balder. Balder was restored to life by his mother’s tears, and she forgave the mistletoe, decreeing the plant should become the symbol of reconciliation — enemies pausing under it should exchange a kiss of peace.

Mistletoe is a shrubby evergreen plant with yellow flowers and sticky white berries that grow as parasites on trees by penetrating the bark and forming a connection through which water and nutrients pass. There are about 450 mistletoe species worldwide, with the US having about 10 to 12 in the genus, Phoradendron.

The plant earned its common name from its believed connection with bird droppings and originates from the Old English word, misteltan. “Mistel” means dung, and “tan” means twig, so the word literally translates as “dung-on-a-twig.”

Birds plant mistletoe in trees by eating the sticky berries and depositing seeds onto trees after they pass through their digestive tracks. An interesting fact is that dwarf mistletoe, native to western U.S. and Canada, can explode, ejecting seeds at a speed of 50 miles per hour and scattering them as far as 50 feet.

Mature mistletoes often grow into rounded masses of branches until they resemble baskets, sometimes called witches’ brooms.

These witches’ brooms can reach 5 feet wide and weigh 50 pounds. A variety of birds nest directly in these witches’ brooms, including house wrens, chickadees and mourning doves.

Three kinds of U.S. butterflies depend on mistletoe for survival — the great purple hairstreak, the thicket hairstreak and the Johnston’s hairstreak. These butterflies lay eggs on mistletoe and their young eat the leaves.

Mistletoe berries are toxic to humans and livestock, but are favored during fall and winter when other foods are scarce by deer, squirrels and porcupines. Bird species including robins, chickadees and mourning doves also feed on their berries.

While mistletoe has a long history in holiday traditions, it’s important to remember that mistletoe berries should not be handled or ingested. Hang decorations out of reach, or use artificial mistletoe as a safer option.