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Show More to Mistletoe Than You'd Think In America the high - hanging mistletoe is treasured chiefly for its power to invite a kiss from a pretty girl. The bulk of the holiday decoration comes from the Caro-linas, Caro-linas, Tennessee and the southwest where off-season agricultural workers work-ers gather the branches for shipment ship-ment ' throughout the nation. The white - berried plant also serves as a winter food supply for mockingbirds, robins, and wax-wings. wax-wings. These small birds are responsible re-sponsible for the spread of the tree-damaging parasite. After eating eat-ing the berries the birds clean their beaks on the trees, firmly planting the mistletoe seeds they do not eat. The tap root of the seedling pierces the tenderest portions por-tions of the tree young branches or buds and the tree sap is drawn into the thick leaves and translucent translu-cent berries of the guest plant. Though the ' mistletoe plays the dual characters of destructive killer kill-er and promoter of love, superstition supersti-tion has it that the plant can switch roles in a twinkle. For instance, in-stance, if the yuletide mistletoe bough isn't removed from a house by Candlemass Eve (February 1), each leaf left will produce a goblin to plague the careless occupants during the year. |