Mistletoe (in latin: Viscum album) grows in Europe, northwest Africa, and central Asia and Japan. It is called interchangeably Mistletoe or Viscum, or in other parts of the world Druid’s herb, Holy Wood or The Kissing Bush. Mistletoe is an evergreen displayed during the Christmas season and symbolic of the eventual rebirth of vegetation that will occur in spring. But perhaps more than any other Christmas evergreen, it is a plant of which we are conscious only during the holidays.
Viscum album (Mistletoe) has a long history of use in traditional medicine throughout the past 2,000 years.
In Europe, most cancer patients use Mistletoe extracts, at a total expense of about 72 million CAD (€45m; $59m) each year and in Germany the insurance system pays for this treatment. Also, the German Commission E (the German equivalent of Food and Drug Administration) has approved it as a treatment for degenerative and inflamed joints and as a palliative therapy for malignant tumors.
Botanical facts
An interesting fact is that mistletoe is a parasitic plant relying on the host tree to provide it with nutrients. It does not have root but rather sinkers to extract nutrients. After years of infection, viscum reduces growth of the host trees.
Viscum album has subspecies that grow specifically on certain host trees. Many trees, especially hardwood, have both mechanical and chemical barriers to viscum infection. A host tree that is susceptible to one viscum infection will often host many (up to 50) further viscum bushes.
Mistletoe is a small, leathery-leaved evergreen which forms a ball-shaped mass easily seen on the branches of deciduous host trees in winter. It is most commonly seen on old apple, ash, and hawthorn trees; although mistletoe does not grow as well on oak trees, mistletoe from oak trees has traditionally been the most commonly used as herbal medicine.
mistletoe bush
It is an evergreen meaning it will never lose its foliage. Viscum usually forms 1 node for each year of growth (internodal distance: 4-8 cm). It takes 3-4 years after implantation/infection of the host tree for the first node to appear. There are both male and female plants (viscum is not hermaprhodytic).
It forms dichotomous branching and can develop into a 1 meter sized globe bush.
Where did the name come from?
The English word for the plant is derived from a defunct Anglo-Saxon dialect. Apparently, having noticed that mistletoe often sprouts from bird droppings on tree branches, the words for dung—“mistel”—and twig—“tan”— were conjoined, and the mashup “misteltan” evolved over time into “mistletoe.”
History and Traditional Use
Mistletoe appears in the myths of various cultures although its association with kissing is largely restricted to the English-speaking world.
The kissing tradition appears to have first caught on among servants in England before spreading to the middle classes. As part of the early custom, men were allowed to steal a kiss from any woman caught standing under the mistletoe, and refusing was viewed as bad luck. Yet another tradition instructed the merrymakers to pluck a single berry from the mistletoe with each kiss, and to stop smooching once they were all gone. So, they made sure there were plenty of berries on that mistletoe!
kissing under the Mistletoe!
Mistletoe was a sacred plant of the Celtic peoples; the Celts and Gauls called it “all-heal” or “cure-all”. Celtic Druids believed that mistletoe contained the spirit of the tree in which it grew; this was the only part of the tree that stayed green all winter.
Shakespeare called mistletoe ‘baleful Mistletoe’, a reference to the Nordic mythology when Baldur, the god of peace and beauty, was slain by an arrow made from mistletoe and then brought back to life by the other Nordic gods.
The druids used Mistletoe in the following areas:
- General Tonic (likely related to immune support or increasing resistance to infection)
- Fertility
- Epilepsy
During the Roman conquest of Europe there was a significant exchange of healing methods and Mistletoe began its use in Greco-Roman society.
Celsus (a Roman naturalist) was one of the first to record the use of mistletoe in medicine in De Medicina (50 BC). Illnesses treated:
- Cancer like illnesses (as an emollient)
- Epilepsy
- Fertility
Other notable herbalists that used Mistletoe in their practice:
- Paracelsus (1494 – 1541) & John Colbatch (1670 – 1728) – for epilepsy
- Albrecht von Haller (1708 – 1777) – used as an spasmolytic and for gynecological complaints
- Gerhard Madhaus (1890-1942) – degenerative and inflammatory joint disease
In the late 19th and early 20th century Viscum album was used for weakness of the heart and later hypertension and arteriosclerosis.
A century ago, Rudolf Steiner developed anthroposophy, a school of thought that led to innovations such as the Waldorf schools, biodynamic farming, and anthroposophic medicine.
Steiner’s intuition that mistletoe might help treat cancer is based on the fact that, like cancer, mistletoe is a parasitic growth that eventually kills its host. Inspired by the founder of Homeopathy, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann’s “like cures like” principle, he believed that an extract of mistletoe would cure cancer. Despite the implausibility of this idea, about 1,000 in vitro studies have shown that mistletoe or its main constituents (alkaloids, lectins, and viscotoxins) do have anticancer activity. However, many plants have some sort of anticancer activity. Occasionally, this is useful therapeutically—vinblastine and vincristine are derived from the common herb Periwinkle (Vinca minor/major) and Taxol comes from the yew tree. In most cases though, toxicity or lack of bioavailability prohibit the use of these compounds.
R.Steiner had suggested specialized ways of harvesting and processing mistletoe (differing interpretations have led to different viscum preparations). Consistently he recommended different medications be created from mistletoe plants growing on different host trees.
Dr. Ita Wegman, another antrophosophic medicine follower, developed the first injectable Mistletoe extract for cancer patients in the years 1917-20.
Modern use and Integrative Oncology
Viscum album is one of the most well researched integrative cancer therapeutic.
Studies have shown it may have positive impacts on:
- Quality of Life
- Side Effects of Conventional Care
- Survival
Mistletoe extracts can positively impact patients throughout the treatment spectrum:
- Curative
- Palliative
- Restorative
- Preventive (In high risk patient groups)
Beside cancer treatment, Mistletoe is considered in North America a suitable Hypotensive (good for moderate to mild Hypertension) herb and a cerebral circulatory stimulant.
Side effects and Interactions
As for the notorious toxicity of this plant, a few ideas in the end.
- While toxicity has been observed with ingestion of these plants it is usually higher doses that are potential toxic and sometimes fatal. Symptoms include:
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures , hypertension followed by shock
- A case review of 14 patients with American mistletoe leaf or berry ingestions failed to show any symptoms of toxicity. Based on that series, ingestion of 1-3 mistletoe berries or 1-2 leaves is unlikely to produce serious toxicity. Of the accidental (pediatric) or intentional exposure of raw plant mistletoe in the past 25 years there were no deaths and 97% were asymptomatic.
- 2 cases of deaths due to mistletoe preparation in past 25 years were due to chronic ingestion of tea preparations
- It should be avoided during pregnancy or breastfeeding, as it may stimulate uterine contractions.
- The herb should not be used along with heart medications as the combination creates an increased risk of cardiac slow-down. Any use of the herb should always be under the guidelines of a professional health care provider.
Mistletoe berries
