THE WONDERS OF MISTLETOE
OLUBUKAYO BUKOLA OYENIYI - KADUNA
The well-known Mistletoe is an
evergreen parasitic plant, growing on the branches of trees, where it forms
pendent bushes, 2 to 5 feet in diameter. It will grow and has been found on
almost any deciduous tree, preferring those with soft bark, and being, perhaps,
commonest on old Apple trees, though it is frequently found on the Ash,
Hawthorn, Lime and other trees. On the Oak, it grows very seldom. It has been
found on the Cedar of Lebanon and on the Larch, but very rarely on the Pear
tree.
Mistletoe is found throughout
Europe, and in this country is particularly common in Herefordshire and
Worcestershire. In Scotland it is almost unknown. The genus Viscum has
thirty or more species. In South Africa there are several, one with very minute
leaves, a feature common to many herbs growing in that excessively dry climate;
one in Australia is densely woolly, from a similar cause. Several members of the
family are not parasitic at all, being shrubs and trees, showing that the
parasitic habit is an acquired one, and now, of course, hereditary.
istletoe is always produced by seed and cannot be cultivated in the earth like
other plants, hence the ancients considered it to be an excrescence of the
tree. By rubbing the berries on the smooth bark of the underside of the
branches of trees till they adhere, or inserting them in clefts made for the
purpose, it is possible to grow Mistletoe quite successfully, if desired.
The English name is said to be
derived from the Anglo-Saxon Misteltan, tan signifying twig, and mistel
from mist, which in old Dutch meant birdlime; thus, according to
Professor Skeat, Mistletoe means 'birdlime twig,' a reference to the fact that
the berries have been used for making birdlime. Dr. Prior, however derives the
word from tan, a twig, and mistl, meaning different, from its being
unlike the tree it grows on. In the fourteenth century it was termed 'Mystyldene'
and also Lignum crucis, an allusion to the legend just mentioned. The
Latin name of the genus, Viscum, signifying sticky, was assigned to it
from the glutinous juice of its berries.
The stem is yellowish and smooth,
freely forked, separating when dead into bone-like joints. The leaves are
tongue-shaped, broader towards the end, 1 to 3 inches long, very thick and
leathery, of a dull yellow-green colour, arranged in pairs, with very short
footstalks. The flowers, small and inconspicuous, are arranged in threes, in
close short spikes or clusters in the forks of the branches, and are of two
varieties, the male and female occurring on different plants. Neither male nor
female flowers have a corolla, the parts of the fructification springing from
the yellowish calyx. They open in May. The fruit is a globular, smooth, white
berry, ripening in December.
Mistletoe was held in great
reverence by the Druids. They went forth clad in white robes to search for the
sacred plant, and when it was discovered, one of the Druids ascended the tree
and gathered it with great ceremony, separating it from the Oak with a golden
knife. The Mistletoe was always cut at a particular age of the moon, at the
beginning of the year, and it was only sought for when the Druids declared they
had visions directing them to seek it. When a great length of time elapsed
without this happening, or if the Mistletoe chanced to fall to the ground, it
was considered as an omen that some misfortune would befall the nation. The
Druids held that the Mistletoe protected its possessor from all evil, and that
the oaks on which it was seen growing were to be respected because of the
wonderful cures which the priests were able to effect with it. They sent round
their attendant youth with branches of the Mistletoe to announce the entrance
of the new year. It is probable that the custom of including it in the
decoration of our homes at Christmas, giving it a special place of honour, is a
survival of this old custom.
The leaves and young twigs,
collected just before the berries form, and dried in the same manner as
described for Holly. Mistletoe contains mucilage, sugar, a fixed oil, resin, an
odorous principle, some tannin and various salts. The active part of the plant
is the resin, Viscin, which by fermentation becomes a yellowish, sticky,
resinous mass, which can be used with success as a birdlime.
The preparations ordinarily used are
a fluid extract and the powdered leaves. A homoeopathic tincture is prepared
with spirit from equal quantities of the leaves and ripe berries, but is
difficult of manufacture, owing to the viscidity of the sap.
MEDICINAL ACTION AND USES
Nervine, antispasmodic, tonic and
narcotic. Has a greatreputation for curing the 'falling sickness' epilepsy -
and other convulsive nervous disorders.
It has also been employed in
checking internal haemorrhage.
Arteriosclerosis (hardening of the
arteries)
Cancer
Epilepsy
High blood pressure
Irregular heartbeat
Bervousness
Sterility
Tension
Ulcers
Urinary disorders
The physiological effect of the
plant is to lessen and temporarily benumb such nervous action as is reflected
to distant organs of the body from some central organ which is the actual seat
of trouble. In this way the spasms of epilepsy and of other convulsive
distempers are allayed. Large doses of the plant, or of its berries, would, on
the contrary, aggravate these convulsive disorders. Young children have been
attacked with convulsions after eating freely of the berries. Mistletoe
comes as dried leaves, capsules, an infusion, liquid extract, tablets and
tincture.
Some experts recommend the following
doses:
Ad dried leaves, 2 to 6 grams orally
three times daily
As liquid extract (1:1 solution in
25% alcohol), 1 to 3 millimeters orally three times daily
As tincture (1:5 solution in 45%
alcohol), 0.5 milliliter orally three times daily.
Besides the dried leaves being given
powdered, or as an infusion, or made into a tincture with spirits of wine, a
decoction may be made by boiling 2 OZ. of the bruised green plant with 1/2 pint
of water, giving 1 tablespoonful for a dose several times a day. Ten to 60
grains of the powder may be taken as a dose, and homoeopathists give 5 to 10
drops of the tincture, with 1 or 2 tablespoonful of cold water. Mistletoe is
also given, combined with Valerian Root and Vervain, for all kinds of nervous
complaints, cayenne pods being added in cases of debility of the digestive
organs.
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