Plants to look for in December — Mistletoe

Mistletoe (Viscum album) is a parasitic plant (one that lives off or in another plant, getting food and protection from it but giving nothing back in return.) Its oval leaves are evergreen and arranged in pairs on the stem. Many flowers are monoecious (a single flower containing both male and female parts) but mistletoe is dioecious, which means that male and female flowers are on separate plants. The fruit of mistletoe is a white berry-like drupe (a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed, like a plum or a peach) which depends on birds and mammals eating it and spreading the seed through their poo! It gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon words "mistle" and "tan" which mean "dung twig"! The seeds are also spread by birds trying to wipe the sticky seeds off their beaks on to branches. Beware, the drupes are poisonous to humans!

For more info see
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/mistletoe