How romantic! I just learned that "the word mistletoe is a compound Old English word combining 'mistel' (which means “dung”) and 'tan' (which means twig) because it looks a bit like bird poop on a stick".
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How romantic! I just learned that "the word mistletoe is a compound Old English word combining 'mistel' (which means “dung”) and 'tan' (which means twig) because it looks a bit like bird poop on a stick".
Its seeds are spread by the Mistle Thrush, birds that eat the plant's fruit and then poop it out (handily, often on twigs). It's a pretty common strategy in the plant world, as the seed coat is broken down a bit during digestion, which prepares it to sprout (helped along by the handy bit of fertilizer it is sitting in). Seeds found in any kind of berry generally require a trip through a bird's digestive tract in order to germinate. Just another way that plants rule the world!