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Mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens or Viscum album) is a parasiticplant that grows on trees, particularly hardwood trees like oak and apple. A parasite is a plant or animal that needs another plant or animal to survive. As mistletoe grows on a tree and uses its roots to invade a tree's bark, which allows mistletoe to absorb the tree's nutrients. Sometimes, mistletoe can harm a tree and cause deformities in a tree's branches, but usually it doesn't kill its host. If the host dies, the mistletoe dies.

Mistletoe produces its own food by photosynthesis, and is able to live on its own, although it is mostly found in trees. It's common for a mistletoe plant to grow on top of another mistletoe plant.

Mistletoe is easy to spot in the winter because its leaves
stay green all year long. Mistletoe has pointy, green, leathery leaves,with waxy berries that are either
red or white. The plant's flowers can be a wide variety
of colors, from bright red to yellow to green.
Ingesting mistletoe can cause severe stomach cramps
and diarrhea, and in some cases can be fatal.
If you have mistletoe in your house this holiday season,
be sure that it is in a place where children and pets won't
be able to get to it.

                                                           The red-and-white berries that grow on mistletoe are eaten
                                                           by birds that eventually leave their droppings at their favorite
                                                           hang-out spot -- on a tree branch. The droppings contain seeds
                                                           that sprout roots into the tree branch. The birds also help
                                                           spread the seed by wiping their beaks on the tree bark to clean
                                                           off the sticky seeds after they've eaten. The seeds are sticky
                                                           because of the juice inside the berry. This stickiness helps
                                                           the seeds stay in the tree rather than falling to the ground.
                                                           Within six weeks, the mistletoe plant begins growing, although
                                                           it takes five years to flower.