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When I placed this cache, I was eye level with a real live growing mistletoe plant. Please do not disturbe the mistletoe so it will be there for others to see.
Mistletoe is a parasitic evergreen plant that lives on trees such as oak, elm, fir, and apple. The parasitic plant has yellowish flowers, small yellowish green leaves, and waxy white berries. In addition to Europe and North America, mistletoe is also found in Australia and Korea.
Mistletoe berries are poisonous to cats and other small animals. There is, however, some debate about how toxic the berries are to humans, and there is controversy about whether it is safe to use mistletoe as a remedy. Mistletoe is also known as mystyldene, all-heal, birdlime, golden bough, and devil's fuge.
Most mistletoe seeds are spread by birds, such as the Mistle Thrush in Europe, the Phainopepla in southwestern North America, and Dicaeum of Asia and Australia; they derive sustenance through eating the fruits. The seeds are excreted in their droppings and stick to twigs, or more commonly the bird grips the fruit in its bill, squeezes the sticky coated seed out to the side, and then wipes its bill clean on a suitable branch. The seeds are coated with a sticky material, which hardens and attaches the seed firmly to its future host
Mistletoe bears fruit at the time of the Winter Solstice, the birth of the new year, and may have been used in solstitial rites in Druidic Britain as a symbol of immortality. In Celtic mythology and in druid rituals, it was considered a remedy for barrenness in animals and an antidote to poison, although the fruits of many mistletoes are actually poisonous if ingested as they contain viscotoxins.
An old Christian tradition said that mistletoe was once a tree and furnished the wood of the Cross. After the Crucifixion, the plant shriveled and became dwarfed to a parasitic vine.
In Romanian traditions, mistletoe is considered a source of good fortune. The medical and the supposed magical properties of the plant are still used, especially in rural areas.
Mistletoe has sometimes been nicknamed the vampire plant because it can probe beneath the tree bark to drain water and minerals, enabling it to survive during a drought
Mistletoe is commonly used as a Christmas decoration. According to custom, the mistletoe must not touch the ground between its cutting and its removal as the last of Christmas greens at Candlemas; it may remain hung through the year, often to preserve the house from lightning or fire, until it is replaced the following Christmas Eve. According to a custom of Christmas cheer, any two people who meet under a hanging of mistletoe are obliged to kiss. The custom is Scandinavian in origin
The appearance and nature of the fruit's content (viscin) is very similar or suggestive of human semen and this has strengthened its pagan connections.
Mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens) is the state floral emblem for the State of Oklahoma.
Mistletoe leaves and young twigs are used by herbalists, and it is popular in Europe, especially in Germany, for treating circulatory and respiratory system problems, and cancer. Mistletoe is being studied as a potential treatment for tumors. Although such use is not yet permitted in the US, mistletoe is prescribed in Europe
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab pyvzovat trne vf arrqrq.