Multitudinous mistletoe

In a large yellow poplar tree in our front yard and at least 100 feet above the ground grow several large clumps of mistletoe. (The photo was shot with 300mm lens.)

Everyone knows that mistletoe is a parasitic plant and is associated with various Christmas traditions, but did you know it is used to treat seizures and headaches in some cultures and is being closely looked at an an anticancer treatment?

When I was writing O Henry-type short stories about 50 years ago, I thought one of my best was about a boy who borrowed his father's shotgun to shoot mistletoe out of a tree to go along with the Christmas present he was going to buy his girlfriend, but it took him five dollars worth of shells to get the mistletoe down. He had to pay his father back for the shells first so the father could shoot a turkey for the family Christmas dinner. The boy didn't have enough money to buy the Christmas gift.

I thought it was a good story, but apparently the editors I sent it to didn't like it because it was never published. Their loss, I say.

Christmas in June

Walking through the woods early this morning, I kicked at some brush that seemed out of place. To my surprise, it was a big of clump mistletoe that evidently had fallen from one of our tall trees during our recent wind and rain storms.

The piece was about as big as a wash tub. I saw where it had attached itself to the tree.

When I was a reporter in Pine Bluff, Ark., one of the first feature stories I did was about a young man who made his Christmas money by shooting mistletoe out of trees. He was a crack shot with his .22 rifle and scope. He would take the bunches to downtown Little Rock to sell. He said he made $400 or $500 every year. This was in 1968 when $500 could buy you a nice Christmas.

I have seen mistletoe in our poplar trees, usually at the tip-top, in the winter. I'm going to try to keep it alive, but no doubt it will die. Parasites live on the edge and don't do well if tended to.