plant

Mistletoe

Nature · Rituals

A parasitic evergreen used in later northern rite and story. Not oak the host-tree, and not a generic healing herb.

Celtic tradition

  • Mistletoe appears in Celtic tradition.

    Pliny’s Natural History attests Gaulish Druids cutting mistletoe from oak. A Roman visitor’s report of Celtic rite, not oak the host-tree as this plant, and not a generic healing herb.

    from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE

    appears in · sourced · documented

Norse tradition

  • Mistletoe appears in Norse tradition.

    Snorri’s Gylfaginning has Höðr strike Baldr with a mistletoe dart. A named plant in that Norse death-tale, not Pliny’s Druid cutting, and not Mistilteinn the later sword.

    from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220

    appears in · sourced · documented

  • Mistletoe is used in Medicine.

    Pliny’s Natural History lists mistletoe (viscum) among drugs as well as among the Druid cutting. A Roman encyclopedic pharmacy use of the plant, not the Gaulish rite already stored, and not a later crystal-healing viscum.

    from Pliny the Elder · Natural History, c. 77 CE

    used in · sourced · documented

sources

  • Natural History · Pliny the Elder

    Pliny, Naturalis Historia.

  • Gylfaginning · Snorri Sturluson

    Snorri Sturluson, Gylfaginning, in the Prose Edda.