Mistletoe
Viscum; all-heal
- Known today as
- Viscum album, especially when found on oak.
- Kind
- Plant, in 3 older authorities
- Constituents
- viscotoxin, mistletoe lectin I
- Poisoning
- Gastrointestinal irritants
- Earliest authority here
- Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Caution. The berries are poisonous.
Mistletoe: what was it used for?
Against the falling sickness and apoplexy; worn as an amulet.
Mistletoe: what does modern science say?
Mistletoe extracts are used alongside cancer treatment in parts of Europe, with weak evidence; the berries are poisonous.
Mistletoe: is it poisonous?
Yes, in some form or dose. The berries are poisonous. Its poisoning is gastrointestinal irritants: Thirty minutes to three hours: the short latency is reassuring, since the deadly syndromes come later. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- The lectins inhibit protein synthesis and stir immune cells; the viscotoxins injure cell membranes.
- Toxic dose
- The berries have poisoned children; injected extracts are a different matter.
- Syndrome
- Gastrointestinal irritants
- Standing
- Injected mistletoe extracts are widely used in German cancer care; trials show no survival benefit.
- Freuding, M., et al. (2019). “Mistletoe in oncological treatment: a systematic review.” Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology 145. Primary text
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
What Medicine Makes of It
- The Falling SicknessEpilepsy, the demon that throws the child into the fire.
Mistletoe: what lore surrounds it?
The Christmas kissing custom is far younger than the myth of Balder or the druids’ rite, and unrelated to either. The earliest known reference is an English poem of 1784, and by the early nineteenth century Washington Irving could describe the custom fully formed: each berry plucked from the sprig stood for a kiss allowed, and a refusal was held to bring bad luck in marriage.
Mistletoe: what did the older authorities say?
- Pliny
- The druids held nothing more sacred than mistletoe on an oak, cut with a golden sickle on the sixth day of the moon, with the sacrifice of two white bulls.
- The Prose Edda
- The god Balder, whom nothing could harm, is slain by a dart of mistletoe.
- John Colbatch
- Recommended it against epilepsy in a treatise of 1720.
Sources
- Pliny, Natural History XVI. Primary text
- Colbatch, J. (1720). A Dissertation concerning Mistletoe. Book, not indexed
- Smithsonian Magazine, “How Mistletoe Became a Christmas Kissing Tradition.” Book, not indexed
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 4 cited: 2 primary text, 2 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Mistletoe.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/mistletoe.
- MLA
“Mistletoe.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/mistletoe. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Mistletoe. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/mistletoe
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See Also
Poisoned alike: gastrointestinal irritants
Morel · Melon root · Pokeweed · Meadow saffron · Scammony · Livid pinkgill · The sickener · Jalap · the syndrome, with all of them →
Also in Pliny the Elder
Mithridate in Pliny the Elder · Manna in Pliny the Elder · Mugwort in Pliny the Elder · Madonna lily in Pliny the Elder · everything Pliny the Elder names →
Drawing on the same sources: Pliny
Nearby in the alphabet
The Miraculous Medal · Moly (Unidentified) · Mint, oil of (Oil of garden or spear mint) · Moonwort (The small fern Botrychium lunaria) · Milkweed
Historical description, not medical advice.