Oklahoma Native Plant Record, Volume 15, Number 1, December 2015


Oklahoma Native Plant Record 105 
Volume 15, December 2015 

Paul Buck
https://doi.org/10.22488/okstate.17.100117

Critic’s Choice Essay 

MISTLETOE, PHORADENDRON SEROTINUM 
(RAF.) JOHNSTON 

Reprinted from Gaillardia, Spring 1993 

Paul Buck, deceased 
Professor Emeritus 
Department of Biological Science  
University of Tulsa 

Every Oklahoma child quickly becomes 
familiar with the common mistletoe, the 
green leaved growth on naked branches of 
large trees in mid-winter. This native plant 
occurs over most of the state and is 
particularly popular as one of the year-end 
holiday decorations. We all know it is 
permissible to steal a kiss from someone 
standing “under the mistletoe.” 

Although considered by many to be a 
parasite, in reality the plant is only semi-
parasitic. It does obtain water, minerals, and 
perhaps some proteins from the host, but it 
is able to carry out photosynthesis and 
therefore produce most of its own food. In 
spite of the plant invading its tissue, the 
host is seldom harmed, unless of course 
there is a very heavy infestation. 

Just 100 years ago in February 1893, 
mistletoe became the floral emblem of the 
Territory of Oklahoma. In 1909, the Second 
State Legislature conferred the same 
designation for the State of Oklahoma. The 
following explanation for its selection 
appeared in the Chronicles of Oklahoma, the 
publication of the Oklahoma Historical 
Society. 

Tradition has it that the first grave made 
in Oklahoma country in the winter after the 
Opening of 1889 was covered with 
mistletoe since there were no other floral 
offerings in the new country except the 
green of the mistletoe with its white berries 

growing in great clusters on the elms along 
the dry creek beds and branches. All 
through the winter, the green bank of the 
lonely grave could be seen far across the 
prairie against the sere brown grass or the 
melting snow of early spring. Thus, the 
mistletoe became associated with sacred 
thoughts among the pioneer settlers. 

In Oklahoma, mistletoe is most 
commonly associated with Ulmus americana 
(American elm), a species which has been 
badly ravaged by Dutch elm disease, a 
fungus with tissue choking the water 
translocating tissues. Mistletoe may also be 
found on hackberries, oaks, maples, ash, 
sycamore, and other native deciduous trees. 
This is fortunate; otherwise, the species 
might well become a candidate for rare or 
endangered status. 

The plants are dioecious (unisexual: 
staminate and pistillate flowers on different 
individuals). Flowers are about 2 mm across, 
without petals, and borne on spike-like 
stalks from the bases of the leaves. The 
fruit, which are readily consumed by birds, 
are whitish, mucilaginous, one-seeded 
drupes, appearing during the winter. It has 
been suggested that dispersal takes place 
when the sticky seeds are “glued” to a twig 
as a bird wipes its bill, or the ingested, but 
unharmed, seeds are deposited on a limb 
with fecal material. 



106 Oklahoma Native Plant Record 
Volume 15, December 2015 

Paul Buck

Used as a medicinal plant by Indians 
and pioneers, a tea was prepared to relax 
nervous tension and muscle irritability and 
to increase blood pressure. Other uses were 
to lessen bleeding, promote clotting, 
stimulate uterine contraction, and arrest 
postpartum hemorrhage. However, caution 
is advisable. Like virtually all medications, 
mistletoe can be poisonous under certain 
conditions such as improper dosage levels, 
sensitive individuals, or with the very young, 
elderly, or feeble. There is no reliable 
information on safe dosages. Although 
consumption of the fruit is harmless to pigs, 
13 Hereford cattle, forced to consume the 
plant when their pasture was reduced, died 

within 10 hours after the onset of 
symptoms. Death was due to collapse of the 
cardiovascular system. Several deaths among 
children, having consumed the fruit, have 
been documented.  

Such is the state’s floral emblem, the 
Oklahoma mistletoe, Phoraendron serotinum — 
an interesting, beneficial, and potentially 
dangerous member of our native flora. 

bacf


	Critic’s Choice Essay: Mistletoe, Phoradendron serotinum (Raf.) Johnston by Dr. Paul Buck