Mistletoe: The Holiday Plant That Shouldn’t Exist
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2024
- Mistletoe's ability to stay green through harsh, cold weather has made it a symbol of holiday romance for centuries. But it relies on some very strange (and occasionally disgusting) adaptations to stay vibrant and healthy all winter long.
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What can it tell us about alternative life styles?
I'm gonna guess you guys made this video BEFORE the pandemic? Don't think anybody's hanging around for a kiss under the mistletoe this year...
Thank you for all the superfly enamel pins! I love the whole series! Another Pin Addict well satisfied.
would you do an episode on the pfizer vaccine?
SciShow: this living thing shouldn't exist
Evolution: stop telling me how to do my job
I just imagine evolution being like cheryl from archer screaming "YOUR NOT MY SUPERVISOR!"
Exactly!
Evolution: Thanks .. I'm sooo over these guys questioning my motivation. If I wanna, I just wanna, sometimes
This shouldn't have made me laugh the way it did 😩😂🤣😂
Baldur: Hey, even I didn't expect it to be the killer.
SciShow: Mistletoe shouldn't exist.
Frigg: Tell me about it...
She shouldn't have underestimated infants
Baldr: why does this twig in my chest hurt so much?
@@woodypigeon Comment of the year! 🎉
Loki: smiling "this shouldn't happen"
This comment makes the mythology class I took this past semester totally worth it.
Mistletoes have to invade a plant as rapidly as possible, but not so fast as to be detected by the host, while also delivering chemicals to stop immune responses. It's crazy!
Objects with no brains doing things like if they had a brain.
That’s mind-boggling.
He’s a sneaky lil bugger.
So mistletoes Gaslight the host...
Tree: You are taking nutrients from me!
Mistletoe: You're crazy! Why would I do that? Without you I am nothing.
Tree: I guess not
Sounds like a human fetus attaching to the uterine wall. Sending hormones so the mother immune response will not reject it.
Kind of like arthropods that form galls?
Biology Teacher: “The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.”
Mistletoe: “Hold my beer.”
It's a parasite, it holds YOUR beer (and downs it when you not looking)
Hold my sap.
Hold your beer
Mistletoe: "Hold my twig and berries!"
"We don't do that here."
“The other reason we associate mistletoe with passion is because of the sticky way they reproduce.” Okay okay Sci Show, I see you I hear you 🤔
Nothing spells love like some hot milk. 🍼 Hahaha
@@sohopedeco oof lol that's the bad touch 😂
@@sohopedeco Be careful with this pun train. You might just blow it.
Come on guys 🙄
@@llydrsn gals like it too.
When you find out Mistletoe basically represents the most toxic relationship possible lol.
I don't get it, please explain
@@mytengokvideo5251 Well, they're parasites.
And theyre toxic
@@fatesinker still don't understand
@@mytengokvideo5251 Did you not watch the video at all?
Brilliant 😆 This romantic Holiday symbol is named poopy twig.
What romantic holiday are you speaking about?
@@marceloantunes998 romantic holiday symbol, not romantic holiday
@@MrMctastics sorry about my english
I understood that the mistletoe is the symbol of a romantic holiday. What is not mentioned in the video nor in the comment is what holiday it is a symbol of.
@@marceloantunes998 it's a Christmas thing
The Spanish tradition of "Caga Tio" the poop log doesn't seem so weird anymore.
Even weirder, an old mistletoe can outlive its host for years upon years.
Old trees that fell down and are rotting away sometimes have living mistletoes on them, feeding on the stuff produced by algae, moss and mycelium.
It’s rare to see in nature an organism that’s supposed to be parasitic but ends up living independently of its host.
Are you sure about that? I've seen mistletoes die just because the host plant was drought stressed enough to not give the mistletoe enough water though it was enough for the orange tree to still survive.
Whenever scientists ask "Why?" evolution responds with "Why not?"
"That's what I ask myself every time I look at you humans"
Life happens wherever it can. Where it can't, it just takes a bit longer.
In Western Australia we have the *Bush Christmas Tree* ( *_Nuytsia floribunda_* ), that grows to 6-8 metres tall, has bright displays of yellow & orange flowers, and tends to start flowering in early summer, November/December - hence the name.
What's fascinating is that it's also a kind of *Mistletoe* , it's just one that grows out of the ground & sucks the nutrients of neighboring trees through it's elaborate root system.
[ Edit: Added the scientific name of the tree ]
We also have a mistletoe like this though ... but thanks for the info on the bush
Sounds like my ex-wife
Interesting basically giant mistletoe
Wow! I didn't know parasitic trees existed.
it's not the only tree that does this. Most members of Santalaceae including Indian sandalwood itself are parasitic.
They are also, weirdly, the only thing in existence unable to sign binding contracts with goddesses concerning who they are and aren't allowed to hurt.
Ahh, i see you are a man of culture as well. Skaal!
Must have been the lack of that gene.
I must know
And set off a chain of events that eventually lead to Ragnarok.
Let’s play: What is it a Reference to!
Is it a reference to...
A: an anime
B: irl mythology
C: a game
D: a book
E: a show/movie
F: other
Mistletoe:
Tree: you're really growing on me, you know.
Tree looking a bit under the weather (aka dying): Mistletoe does give the good succ. What can I say?
“Reductive evolution - that’s when organisms get rid of genes that don’t spark joy and opt for a minimalist lifestyle based on theft.”
At this point, I laughed so hard that I couldn’t hear a thing and had to rewatch the end of the video.
Normal People: See, mistletoe represents love with the sticky goo.
Me: Got it. Parasitism.
Well it represents the bad relationships...
@@hiimryan2388 well, you can always have both actual healthy relationships where you both just really like sex, too. 😂
@@jf2801 doesn't usually have you wiping both yer beak and yer bum hight up on a tree branch
Now that I write this I realise my mistake
and that .. is the allegory that is mistletoe
Loving all of this mistletoe knowledge!🎄
There is a lot of BS in this episode
We dont have this in Latvia
@@sebastienh1100 Like what?
Yeah
@@meisteremm - at the beginning, the reconstructed folk beliefs are very hypothetical (sperm etc.)
Growing up in the 60’s, when our parents took us to see Santa and Mr. Mistletoe at Marshall Field’s in Chicago, I expected Santa’s sidekick to have missles for toes!
"Your mistletoe is no match for my T. O. W. Missile!"
I remembered how Worried my mom was about the Cuban missile crisis at that time
@@janetross1900
Fun fact: The song Do You Hear What I Hear was written during that time; the line, "A star, a star, shining in the night with a tail as big as a kite" is meant as a reference to this. Apparently, it was the songwriter's subtle request to the conflicting armies to please not ruin Christmas this year, or something like that.
“don’t spark joy” and “minimalism”... Scishow knows their Marie Kondo.
"Even though?" Parasites typically don't kill their hosts, because they need them for food and shelter.
There is actually an extremely large amount that do as part of their life cycle. I forgot the name of them, but there's this one that infects fish to swim near the surface to be easily eaten. After that, it reproduces in the guts of birds or other animal & the poop that makes it's way to water starts it all again. Sure, it doesn't kill the bird, but it does the fish.
or you know.. all those fun bugs that lay larvae in other bugs...
Uhm... Haven't you heard of malaria?
Like liberals
@@KitNeedsCoffee and that one hair worm that makes crickets drown so it can make its way to the water. And toxoplasma gondii which makes rodents not fear cats so they get eaten, because toxoplasma can only reproduce in cats
Soooo interesting!!! Merry Christmas!🎄
It’s super cool to see Rose Bear Don’t Walk being a lot more comfortable on camera now. You can tell she’s feeling it a lot more than her first couple videos 👍
Seemed more than comfortable with the lewd commentary 🤭
This host is awesome! I hope we hear more from her going into 2020. And mistletoe are super interesting! Thanks for this topical video scishow.
2021* oops 😅
I love her too!
@@burnpups I think most of us would rather not go through 2020 again. Happy new year!
@@dlevi67 Groundhog Year 2020
She has that slight rasp, which leads me to believe she can properly sell the info (meaning she knows the subject matter, even if roughly), while also knowing how to party. That's a good balance. Yeah, she's cool.
Rose: "That should be fatal, and yet mistletoes klingon."
Mistletoe: *yeets genes for electron transport chain* Today is a good day to die!
Mistletoe: *Exists*
Worf: _"Ha ha ha.... impossible."_
@@TheRealBatabii You are right, she didn't say "klingon", but the way she said "cling on", for purposes of humor, one can pretend she said "klingon" and make a joke based on that false assumption. Many jokes rely on a slight distortion of reality in a fashion that it still contains enough of that reality to be relatable, but distorted enough to gain some surreal qualities, which then reinforce the joke's direction.
As for "yeet", it is my belief that it fulfills the definition of a word, as in, "a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence (...)" (part of the definition omitted for brevity). While it being meaningful might be a point of contest, in my opinion it has enough recognition within this joke's target audience to have a widely acceptable meaning, therefore fulfilling the conditions to be a word.
@@TheRealBatabii The joke itself is a reference to klingons, a fictional alien race in the Star Trek franchise, who are, amongst a few other things, famous for occasionally throwing caution to the wind, and willingly entering a dangerous situation without any apparent means of overcoming it, while shouting "Today is a good day to die!", with the intent that their fighting spirit and endurance alone will be enough for them to emerge victorious.
My joke refers to this practice by likening mistletoes to klingons based on the aforementioned intentional mishearing, and creating a slightly surreal image of mistletoes willingly getting rid of their ETC genes and entering the "fight" for survival with what appears to the outside viewer as insufficient preparation. And the same way klingons often end up really overcoming the troubles, so did the mistletoe.
@@TheRealBatabii Jokes are situational and subjective. There's not many reasons to try to scrutinize jokes made by others, because they might have a reasoning that simply doesn't resonate with you. If it did, you wouldn't be scrutinizing the joke in the first place. :)
“In fact, their parasitism is one of the...major reasons..they have come to symbolize... romance”. I feel like there is room for improvement in our use of sybolism there.
I suspect the script writer might have reasons to consider it perfect.
@@Temp0raryName oof. a moment of silence for the poor person
It's not the parasitism that's symbolic. The parasitism causes/allows evergreen-ness, which is what's symbolic of enduring love. Not only does that symbolism extend to non-parastic evergreens, I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts that mistletoes were symbolic of love prior to us understanding how their evergreen-ness was due to parasitism.
Historically, in folk medicine, mistletoe was used to cause miscarriage when a woman managed to get pregnant and didn't have a husband to foist responsibility on.
The side effects are reportedly very unpleasant. Up to a week of intense gastrointestinal distress, uterine cramping, nausea, diarrhea, headache, visual disturbances and occasionally auditory hallucinations.
nope; they got it exactly right .. medieval bards for the win
Merry Christmas SciShow team and stay safe
Don't you mean HAPPY HOLIDAY'S?!?
Or home
Mistletoe *Gets rid of genes coding for electron complex 1
Biochemistry: *Wait. That's illegal!*
i heard you. get rid of jeans that don't spark joy.
Genes, or jeans. The answer is the same.
Wait, we don't *understand* the mistletoe?
Then why do we *stand under* the mistletoe?
Haha good one! :D Well, I suppose that we don't understand them is exactly why we stand under them. As everyone knows, "stand under" is the opposite of "understand".
*PUN DETECTED. INITIATING RIMSHOT PROTOCOLS.*
ha ha ha
@@Epicmonk117
Ouch!
been awhile since i heard such a groan worthy dad joke. well done
Baldur would have disliked this video if Loki had shed a tear.
I get it...
i knew I'd find this here
I think Rose is SciShow's greatest discovery of the year, such a great communicator, brilliant work!!!
we all shouldn't exist but we are here
Don't worry yourself about it as it won't be for too much longer
thank you Felix Argyle
Mistoetoe: Exsists
Scishow: you weren’t supposed to do that
Evolution: I do my own stuff, thank you very much.
Thats exactly why i hate the title, it perpetuates ignorance and is just plain science clickbait
"We associate mistletoe with romance because of the way they parasitize"
So you've met my ex, then.
"...and the sticky way they reproduce"
...I ain't touchin' that one.
Dood. 4 Ree-al
Your voice is so much calmer than some on sci-show channels. Thank you.
I was wondering what we called mistletoes in my language. I googled it and found out it's our good old "erva-de-passarinho" ("little bird weed") in Portuguese. But we don't assossiate them with Christmas as all.
It's actually quite interesting that mistletoe is used as a romantic symbol these days, when it used to be used in an old Celtic fertility ritual.
"Shouldn't exist" more like: "we just don't understand it".
This being true now I can make up a story ,and if you don't believe and fall in line with the rules that I made up you can just get out of the country being you aren't following the constitution that was based on my story.
That’s usually what is meant when ppl, especially scientists, say that
@@yourfullofsheite Mr. President, tear down this wall
@@yourfullofsheite are you okay
IF YOU WANT TO HEAR BARS CHECK OUT HYNT. ruclips.net/channel/UCSRO9z5BWLwTmuMkWsOasdQ?view_as=subscriber
Not all mistletoes are poisonous. There are a few species here in Australia with edible berries which were popular foods for indigenous people. Their nickname is "snottygobbles"
"Getting rid of genes that don't spark joy..." Best line. 😁
It was worth watching this video just to learn that the word mistletoe comes from old English for $hit on a stick.
And for all these years I just assumed that was the hot dogs’ job.
Ok Rose, you win, you're my favourite host.
I was looking for precisely your comment, good sir! She is mine too!
Yeah, I'm really enjoying her. She seems like a natural educator (I wonder what her previous job was) and she has a softer voice that's easy to listen to and stay interested on.
Just because she said semen? Shame on you
@@njott1021 what in the HELL gave you that idea?! Just because you have semen on your head, doesn’t mean you have to spit it out
When the mitochondria ISN'T the powerhouse of your cells 😔
Mitochondria: powerhouse of the cell.
Is this from Sabrina the Teenage Witch?
Rose Bear Don't Walk, you're owning it! The info and your personality are coming through loud and clear. The more relaxed you are and enjoy yourself the clearer we get the message and are entertained. I'm a fan. Brava👍👍
Don't eat mistletoe
Good advice
…unless you're a bird, in which case go ahead!
Unless its the Camel variety! 😋
_...or yellow snow._
Answering questions I never knew I had is what keeps me coming back for more.
Plus it's also handy in killing gods of light. Just ask Loki.
I'll find that Ted Ed episode so I know what you're talking about.
@@charleshicks604 In Norse mythology, it was foretold that Balder would die young. In an ultimately futile attempt to circumvent this horrid fate, the gods made every plant, animal and person swear an oath not to harm Balder, making him immortal. But they forgot the lowly mistletoe, hiding between the branches of greater trees. So, because the Norse gods are total bros, they figure out that they can do all kinds of crazy things to Balder without harming him: hitting him with swords, hanging him by the neck, and firing arrows at him. Because the materials of these items swore not to harm Balder, nothing leaves so much as a scratch on him. Untill Loke, for shits and giggles, fletches an arrow from mistletoe and convinces Balder's own brother to fire it. It pierces Balders heart and instantly kills him.
For this, Loke is punished for eternity by being shackled beneath the maw of a great serpent, who's venom drips onto Loke's face causing immense pain. Out of compassion, his wife sits by his side, holding a bowl above Loke's head to catch the dripping venom. But every once in a while the bowl fills up and must be emptied, leaving Loke's face unprotected. His screams of pain are so severe they are the cause of earthquakes here, in Midgård.
Mistletoe also was used to kill a god, so, yes, it can be very dangerous!
Huh?
@@zombiechibixd Loki did some trickery that ended up with Bladur dead from mistletoe. There are a couple of varieties, perhaps you'll like this one by TEDed: ruclips.net/video/8Poklx9Ifz4/видео.html
Sounds like mistletoe has some interesting genetics and energy processing mechanics that are worth studying
Merry Chrismas/Happy Holliday SciShow :D
Loving how this is explained in a simple and funny way. Most of the information was new to me.
I have only seen Rose Bear Don't Walk in a couple of videos. I really like how clear she is when enunciating. I hope to see her in more videos ❤
Merry Christmas! Praying that the SciSchow team would have a brilliant 2021!
Rose is totally blowing my mind with facts about mistletoe!
Excellent! I am now eyeing up my decorations suspiciously. ;)
Tree: do I look fat
other tree: No, that Mistletoe diet you're on is really working.
👏
Marie Kondo reference so good I had to rewind.
Great to see that the power house of the cell is getting some love. Merry Christmas!
"Living in the sticks presents a challenge." Ah yes, my hometown.
*edit for typo
This was very well done
Merry Christmas Scishow! You always make my year better x
Thank you! I never actually looked into this “plant” despite being mentioned every Christmas.
Awesome video! I love Rose Bear Don't Walk!
Honestly probably the best holiday video of the year.
3:58 So mistletoe is basically a plant version of Marie kondo
Loved the video!!! Happy Holidays!!!!
Wow okay yeah mistletoe is super weird. Merry Christmas SciShow crew!!
The Druids used Mistletoe as a medicinal herb.
And look how well they’re doing...
“Genes that don’t spark joy” 😂
When I was a kid growing up in the Great Plains, mistletoe was the State flower of Oklahoma. It was many years after I graduated and moved away from Oklahoma (it's a great place to be from) that the changed the State flower to Periwinkle.
Brilliant delivery!
We live in Australia and are fairly knowledgeable about plants (garden full of natives, family used to run a nursery, etc) and had no idea there was mistletoe here!
Great presentation! Didn't know there were so many species.
Mistletoe: produces sticky white berries
Me: what are you doing step-plant
Loved the little jab at minimalism.
Dig this stoic delivery of jokes
Funniest Episode Yet!!! I'll NEVER get the image of birds wiping their feathery little butts on branches!!!
I'm going into research mode. Why, im not sure. It's just mistletoe but i think im going to nerd out for a while. Great video and explanation.
This is one of the best "things you DO NOT want to know" videos ever made. Really makes you think about the Holidays in a different, not-so-happy way...
Christmas was moved into December so the early Christians could takeover pagan harvest and carnival festivals. It was a cynical holiday to begin with.
@@petergray2712 Of course. However, it did not try to suppress them as to the way it was celebrated, just changed the labels. You might say that Christianity was the "salable" form of Judaism, which turned out to be wildly successful mostly in Europe, initially (where Rome was). Perhaps cynical, but the basic concepts were preserved. That is how you "make friends and influence people".
Who knew science could be so strange, but ohh so beautiful 😂👍. I never knew that mistletoe could be such a parasite. Makes me think it’s not from around “here” if you know what I mean. You make science rock! Thanks
David Attenborough, in his Private Life of Plants, did a feature on mistletoe, especially two in Australia. One in the west which basically becomes a tree (its roots tap the roots of any nearby plants) - IIRC it's called the Christmas Tree. The other one is eaten by a bird and we get to see the pooped seed attaching itself to a tree. There is something quite cute about the bird doing its little shuffling "dance" to get rid of the sticky stuff which is still stuck to it. The timelapse of the seed plugging itself into the branch is quite fascinating.
Thanks for the video!
Thank you for the information.
Last time I was this early it was socially acceptable to kiss strangers at parties
I never really knew what mistletoe(s) looked like until now. I used to think they maybe had red berries, but maybe I’m confusing it with holly. I also don’t know what holly looks like.
@ 3:45 "and yet, missile toes Klingon" - SciShow 2020 Quote of the Year
That transition, wow! :)
I love learning things.
Got a few trees with this in my backyard. This makes me even more likely to retrieve some for "science" purposes. I don't think my wife would mind if I hung a plant vampire upside-down in her kitchen entry. I already deliver the severed heads of flowering plants to her at both random and targeted times occasionally centered on significant anniversaries.
Rose is officially iconic. Blunt and direct and engaging!
i was not ready for this
Wait. She said "Mitochondria" without describing it as "the powerhouse of the cell."
That's illegal.
In my country (Argentina) we call muérdago (mistletoe) to the holly tree 🤷♀️
4:02 oh my god Rose, you're on 🔥🔥🔥 here, thank you for the ugly cackle 🤣
Intriguing....
A Gooey, sticky, vile, dangerous to Humans, parasitic plant that could save our lives!!!
And Rose is as beautiful as she is smart!!! 😊 We need to see more of Her.
Merry Christmas 🎄
So mistletoes Marie Kondo-ed their genes
That Marie Kondo reference tho
“Minimalist lifestyle based on thief” -Mistletoe
Mistletoe, the leafy, sticky Vampire.
Curious, mistletoe and poinsettia are toxic and get used to the "least toxic" season of the year. lol
Kinda like how grafting works. Interesting.