Viscum album Seeds | Mistletoe Root Pieces
LATIN NAME: Viscum album
COMMON NAME: Mistletoe
Plant Profile
Mistletoe (Viscum album) grows as a tree in the sandalwood family. LATIN NAME: Viscum album COMMON NAME: Mistletoe mistletoe is green ball of winter tree, and small, yellow-green flowers open in axils of paired leaves. Plant has a very long record in old winter tales of cold lands. It is a plant of open, sunny, sheltered branches of host tree. The flowering period doubles as a feeding season for bees and other pollinators. Few species give back so generously for so little effort.
Science & Biotechnology
European mistletoe is the most controversial plant in oncology. Its lectins (viscumin, ML-I) and viscotoxins are cytotoxic and immunostimulating in the laboratory, and standardised parenteral extracts such as Iscador are prescribed by some European physicians as adjunctive cancer therapy, chiefly with the aim of improving quality of life. The evidence is contradictory: some trials show quality-of-life benefit, while systematic reviews judge the survival evidence weak. The berries and leaves are toxic if eaten, and self-treatment with home-prepared material has caused serious poisoning. This is a plant for researchers and clinicians, not home herbalists.
Botanists studying the sandalwood family regularly include Viscum album in comparative work, and the species also appears in horticultural trials aimed at gardeners and growers. For practical purposes the message is encouraging: generations of cultivation have produced plants of predictable, well-mannered garden character.
Uses & Benefits
Mistletoe works well in borders, containers and dedicated beds. Mistletoe is a fine, curious plant of winter tree and old garden. It is a fine, curious plant of open, sunny, sheltered branches of host tree. Choose a young, healthy host tree with open, sunny crown, and mistletoe will take hold in years ahead. Once it has settled, the workload drops to almost nothing.
Mistletoe is a plant of myth and oncology: European mistletoe extracts, given by injection, are a mainstream complementary cancer therapy in Germany and Switzerland for quality of life; the berries are toxic, and all use is strictly medical.
Growing from Seed
Mistletoe grows readily from seed. Level a tray of loose seed compost, sow evenly, cover to about the seed’s own depth, and keep it moist in full light. Once the seedlings have made true leaves, pot them on individually and plant out when they are sturdy and conditions are right.
Our Take
Mistletoe repays a little patience at sowing time with plenty of garden presence later.
Related Reading
If Mistletoe appeals to you, these related plants are worth a look: