Welcome to Quantum Magazine's podcast.

Each episode, we bring you stories about developments in science and mathematics.

I'm Susan Vallett.

Hanging mistletoe may be a holiday tradition, but it actually blooms in early spring.

And it's not as romantic as it seems.

It's actually a parasite.

And it's one that scientists are still trying to understand.

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podcast. The leaves of mistletoe produce sugars by photosynthesis, but instead of roots,

it has structures that pierce the host tree's vital tissues to suck out nutrients and water. It's like that holiday house guest

who refused to get the hint and leave. Sure, Gita Peterson, a botanist at Stockholm University

in Sweden, says sharing a kiss under the mistletoe is a Christmas tradition, which traces back to

ancient Greece and links the plant to fertility.

Well, it's not something that I've ever really thought much about myself.

And it's kind of strange because if it wasn't for this misological story,

I don't think that people would be a particular interested in mistletoes.

I mean, they have, at least this kind of mizletoes have boring little greenish flowers.

But scientists are just starting to realize the ways in which mistletoes are unique at the molecular level because of its

...