Christmas Mistletoe -- A Delicious Recipe for a Holiday Tradition

Christmas (), also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.Christmas, Merriam-Webster. Retrieved October 6, 2008."Christmas," MSN Encarta. Retrieved October 6, 2008."Christmas", The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini system of dating, is thought to have occurred bet...

Mistletoe is the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic plants in the order Santalales that grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub. Parasitism evolved only nine times in the plant kingdom;Job Kuijt, Biology of Parasitic Flowering Flants (University of California) 1969. of those, the parasitic mistletoe habit has evolved independently five times: Misodendraceae, Loranthaceae, Santalaceae (formerly considered the separate family Eremolepidaceae), and Santalaceae (formerly treated as the separate family Viscaceae). Although Viscaceae and Eremolepidaceae were placed in a broadly-defined Santalaceae by Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 2, DNA data indicates that they evolved independently.

The word 'mistletoe' is of uncertain etymology; it may be related to German Mist, for dung and Tang for branch, since mistletoe can be spread in the feces of birds moving from tree to tree. However, Old English mistel was also used for basil.

European mistletoe, Viscum album, is a poisonous plant that causes acute gastrointestinal problems including stomach pain, and diarrhea along with low pulse.

Category: File - :Cuscuta parasite plant.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Cuscuta Parasite Plant

A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known.Nickrent, D. L. and Musselman, L. J. 2004. Introduction to Parasitic Flowering Plants. The Plant Health Instructor. DOI: 10.1094/PHI-I-2004-0330-01 [http://www.apsnet.org/education/IntroPlantPath/PathogenGroups/Parasiticplants/] Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and...

Santalales is an order of flowering plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution but heavily concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions.

Most have seeds without a testa, which is unusual for flowering plants. Many of the members of the order are parasitic plants, mostly hemi-parasites, able to produce sugars through photosynthesis, but tapping the stems or roots of other plants to obtain water and minerals; some (e.g. Arceuthobium) are obligate parasites, have low concentrations of chlorophyll within their shoots (1/5 to 1/10 of that found in their host's foliage)...