Wondering about Mistletoe

As you know, I spent the first part of my life living in western Pennsylvania. Living there, the only experience I ever had with mistletoe was at Christmas time when you went to the store and purchased a small package of it for a high price. What a surprise when I moved to Texas and found out it is an unwanted parasite that infests a large percentage of the trees.

Now, not being an expert on mistletoe (or under it), I don’t know where all it does grow. I do know it grows on the trees here on my property. It is hard to spot most of the year when the trees are in full foliage, but for the month or so when the trees are bare, it can be spotted easily.

Just yesterday when I was carrying the garbage cans back from the road, I noticed some in a tree next to my gate.

OK, I know most of you are bored with this because you have a lot of it growing around your home, too. So, here is a test for you bored folks. On this first picture, can you tell which ones are mistletoe and which are squirrels’ nests? (you should be able to enlarge all of the pictures)

Here is a labeled picture. Where you correct?

These next three pictures are closer views of the mistletoe:

Now you can see why it is so hard to see mistletoe when all the trees' leaves are big and green. It just blends right in.

It “blends in” (or should I say “into”) in other, more devious ways. Mistletoe is a parasite that lives completely off the host trees fluids and nutrients. It permanently attaches itself to the tree with roots that drill into the tree. Mistletoe seeds are spread mostly by birds when the sticky seeds hitch a ride on their feet.

Someday, maybe, I will take a big truck load of the stuff up to Pennsylvania just before the Christmas holidays and sell it off at half the price that the stores have it for, and make a fortune. Yea, right, that will never happen.