Botanical Accuracy: Kissing under the mistletoe, or is it holly?

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Kissing under the mistletoe, or is it holly?

Kissed someone recently under a mistletoe? Did you check, maybe it was holly?

The tradition of hanging a little bouquet of mistletoe in the ceiling or door frame and being allowed to kiss whoever happens to stand under it is an old tradition, and a popular subject of movies, comics, postcards, and general holiday fare in both Europe and North America. We are currently in what The New York Times calles the "hemiparasite season" in their recent article on mistletoes. No other time of the year provides so much attention to these green mistletoe plants that live on trees, and are often common in Christmas decorations. Another traditional Christmas plant is the holly, a shrub that has spiny, dark-green glossy leaves and (usually) red berries. The two are often featured together.

Old European Christmas card showing mistletoe (Viscum album) with white berries
and holly (Ilex aquifolium) with red berries.

Mistletoes only grow as half-parasites on trees, usually high up in the canopy, and stay green year round. They are easiest to spot in the winter.


Mistletoes (Viscum album) growing on deciduous trees in Switzerland. Photo © by Jason R Grant, used with permission.

Mistletoes (Viscum album) plant from Switzerland.
Photo © by Jason R Grant, used with permission.

And here comes holly:

Holly (Ilex aquifolium) from Switzerland.
Photo © by Jason R Grant, used with permission.

Unfortunately, the increasing plant blindness and under-education in botanical subjects we see in media and among the general public worldwide is spreading also into Christmas botany, and a few cases of 'kissing under the holly' have showed up. Some examples:


Sweater "Kiss me under the mistletoe" showing holly, not mistletoe. For sale on etsy, see link. Photo © owltheshirtsyouneed on etsy (fair use).

Greeting card "Get under the mistletoe" showing holly, not mistletoe.
For sale on etsy, see link. Photo © TwistedOakGreetings on etsy (fair use).

There are some more examples here, and here, and here.

The two plants are nearly impossible to mistake for each other, unless you think each green thing is a green thing and nothing more. Here is a simple table for those of you that want to dig into the separating characters. Note that this table are for the most common and traditionally used species of mistletoes and hollies, and that there are other wild species and cultivars with different berry colors.

	*Mistletoe (Viscum album, etc.)*	*Holly (Ilex aquifolium, etc.)*
Leaves	Small, flat or slightly twisted and spoon-shaped, with smooth edges	Very spiny edges, thick and glossy green, wavy (hurts when you touch them)
Branches	Green, easily seen between the leaves	Usually brownish, usually covered by the spiny leaves
Berries	White, nearly translucent	Red
Grows	As a partial parasite on trees, has a sucker root into a tree branch	As a shrub or small tree, has its own roots in the ground

The user FireFiriel on DeviantArt has clarified it once and for all with a nice drawing.

(This post was inspired and helped by information from reader IT in Sweden - many thanks!)

What is Botanical Accuracy?

Would you care if someone called a cat 'a mouse' in the description of a medieval painting?

Would you care if someone served you horse meat, but said it was beef? I bet you would.

Would you care if the wrong chemical was listed in the ingredient list of your shampoo or cereal?

Would you care if you bought one plant, but got another?

Would you care if there were species or ingredient mistakes in advertising, menus, herbal pills, and such things?

Would you care if books on plants are illustrated with the wrong plants?

If so, here is the place for you to read about such problems in the world of plants and plant products, where unfortunately such mistakes, inaccuracies, and problems are not uncommon. This is usually due to lack of botanical knowledge or expertise, or sometimes because of plain ignorance.

Inaccuracies are common when it comes to plants, because it seems like we humans care to learn less about green things like trees, flowers, and herbs than we care to learn about animals, even when we eat plants, paint them, plant them, extract their chemicals, or use them in numerous other ways.

Without plants in the world you and I certainly would be dead. Some plants can also kill you with their toxins, so it is best to know which plant is what species. Time to learn some botany!

About mistakes, inaccuracies, and errors

Science is a process of gaining knowledge and understanding of the world around us. It is a never-ending process, and what we think are true facts today might change tomorrow. In science we are aiming for having the best understanding possible today based on what we and our predecessors have learned until now.

This means that what is botanically accurate from a scientific viewpoint might (and will) change. Other experts in the field of botany know a lot more about their particular research plants than I do. New scientific findings and conclusions are being published every day. This is just normal and part of the scientific process; we improve on our knowledge all the time.

The important thing is our willingness to continuously aim for botanical accuracy and the highest scientific standards in our use of names and facts. When things are wrong, let's correct them. Let us not perpetuate wrong botanical knowledge by accepting its incorrect use on commercial products, in everyday language, or in other parts of our contemporary cultures. Through scientific education and specific corrections we will improve botany and science for everybody, in supermarkets, restaurants, and garden centers.

It is the perpetuation of incorrect facts that are the problem, not the need for correction. Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody learns, throughout their lives. We need words to be able to communicate and talk about things, so let's use the right words and the right species names.

Undoubtedly there will be mistakes and errors on this blog, or things that need to be updated. If you want to get in touch, please e-mail me at botanicalaccuracy at gmail.com. If you see a mistake on this blog, e-mail me with the link to the post and an explanation what is incorrect and should be updated. If you represent a company and want to get in touch, please use the same e-mail address.