Talk of the Town: Make the most of mistletoe!

Most people know about the mysterious power of mistletoe at Christmas, correct? It allows holiday romance to be democratic by making everyone equally kissable—friends, strangers, distant cousins-the dog (especially if you’ve had too much spiked eggnog). Linger beneath a sprig of mistletoe at a holiday party, and like it or not you become fair game to anyone whose lips are within range.

But there is much more to mistletoe than kissing and holiday merriment, according to howstuffworks.com.

Here are a few fun facts about mistletoe from the U.S. Geological Survey to help you pass the time and make the wait for your holiday kiss seem shorter:

American mistletoe, the kind most often associated with kissing, is one of 1,300 species of mistletoe worldwide but one of only two that are native to the United States. The other is dwarf mistletoe.

Phoradendron, the scientific name for American mistletoe, means “thief of the tree” in Greek. Although not a true parasite in scientific terms, mistletoe comes close, sinking its roots into a host tree and leeching nutrients from the tree to supplement its own photosynthesis.

Sadly, the translation of the word “mistletoe” itself isn’t very romantic. A few centuries back, some people apparently observed that mistletoe tended to take root where birds had left their droppings. “Mistal” is an Anglo-Saxon word that means “dung” and “tan” means “twig,” so mistletoe actually means “dung on a twig.”