Fresh Mistletoe!

Georg's Mother is always doing super nice things for us, like leaving us fresh flowers in our apartment. Yesterday we received a fresh bunch, and I am ashamed to say I had no earthly idea what it was. I didn't ask Georg because he is not very plant-inclined, but rather I inspected the bunch of greenery myself. There were lush, dark green leaves punctuated by little white berries.

At first I thought maybe the berries were white currants! I have been looking all my life for fresh white currants and have never laid eyes on any, so I was excited and tried to eat one of the berries to see if my hypothesis could possibly be true. Big mistake. The berry was not sweet and was a gross combination of sticky and slimy, so that ruled out that possibility. Today I finally asked Georg about the mysterious plant and he said that it was mistletoe!

I guess I have just never seen fresh mistletoe. I had no idea! Another one of those holiday delights (like chestnuts) that you talk about a lot but never actually see in person. I thought for sure I had seen it before, but I was wrong. A quick Google image search confirmed that Georg was correct and that all the mistletoe I had ever seen or thought I had seen were fakes!

So here you go. Fresh mistletoe. Yes, I took the picture of the bouquet lying on the wood floor. It's kind of trashy, but I felt it would provide a high-contrast background that would be unparalleled anywhere else in our apartment. I would like to say that I pinned the mistletoe to the nearest threshold and commenced a romantic kissing session with Georg, but no, the best thing I could think of to do with the mistletoe was to throw it on the floor and take a picture of it for my blog. Maybe tomorrow!

In the meantime, everyone should comment upon whether they have actually ever encountered real mistletoe before. I would like to know if I'm the only one who has been in the dark!

UPDATE 12/13/07: Several people have brought to my attention that mistletoe, especially its berries, are poisonous. I did probe the berry of the mistletoe with my tongue, but I did not eat it, so I am fine. It was only a mere taste! According to a Reno Gazette Journal article concerning this matter, "European mistletoe has major toxicity and may cause serious illness or death if ingested." Also mentioned in the article is that holly plants and poinsettias also have mild toxicity. Wow! I hope everyone manages to prevent the ingestion of these deadly holiday plants this Winter!