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"Not only were there a dozen frost-covered Christmas trees and thick streamers of holly and mistletoe crisscrossing the ceiling, but enchanted snow was falling, warm and dry, from the ceiling."
— Description of the Great Hall at Christmas[src]

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant with white berries, traditionally used as a Christmas decoration.[5][1] It was also considered a rather romantic plant, and it symbolised peace in cultures across the Muggle world.[1]

Description[]

Mistletoe Berries

A jar of Mistletoe berries

The berries of this plant were also used as a common potion ingredient, and were known ingredients in the brewing of the Antidote to Common Poisons and the Forgetfulness Potion.[2]

Mistletoe berries were poisonous and thus unsafe for consumption.[1]

History[]

"Hello, everyone. Today we'll be talking about a rather romantic plant. Of course, I'm referring to mistletoe. Get all your snogging jokes in now, please. Now mistletoe is much more than a holiday decoration. Allow me to explain... There's more to mistletoe than holidays and snogging, as you'll soon find out."
— Professor Sprout regarding mistletoe to her sixth-year Herbology students[src]
Mistletoe lesson HM640

Professor Sprout and Jacob's sibling observing a mistletoe bush in Herbology

During the 1989–1990 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Pomona Sprout taught her sixth-year Herbology students about how to cultivate mistletoe.[1]

Cho Chang: "Mistletoe."
Harry Potter: "Yeah. It's probably full of nargles, though."
Cho Chang: "What are nargles?"
Harry Potter: "No idea. You'd have to ask Loony. Luna, I mean."
— Cho Chang and Harry Potter preparing to kiss under mistletoe[src]
Mistletoe 1

Mistletoe growing in the Room of Requirement

Mistletoe was amongst the Christmas decorations in the Great Hall in December 1992.[3] It was used to decorate the Room of Requirement when Dumbledore's Army had a session on 18 December, 1995. Harry and Cho Chang shared a kiss underneath it. Luna Lovegood believed that it is commonly infested with nargles.[4] The mistletoe in the Room of Requirement continued to grow as Cho and Harry kissed, possibly meaning that the room grew it, as they required it.[6]

Mistletoe was hung up as part of the Christmas decorations for 1996 at Hogwarts, hung at intervals along the corridors. Due to Harry Potter's popularity, large groups of girls tended to gather under the mistletoe branches whenever he passed by. Harry, however, was familiar enough with the castle's secret passages to simply sneak away into other routes that were free of mistletoe.[7] At the Lovegood house there were crab apple trees with bushy crowns of white-beaded mistletoe.[8]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 6, Chapter 40 (A Witch Scorned) - Herbology Lesson "Mistletoe"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pottermore
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 12 (The Polyjuice Potion)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 21 (The Eye of the Snake)
  5. WP favicon Mistletoe on Wikipedia
  6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) - Chapter 16 (Under the Mistletoe)
  7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 15 (The Unbreakable Vow)
  8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 20 (Xenophilius Lovegood)
Herbology
Pottedmandrake
Herbologists
Astrid Cole · Clifford Cromwell · Marmaduke Dale · Blossom Degrasse · Miranda Goshawk · Alfred Lawley · Olgae Marinus · Beaumont Marjoribanks · Nepali wizard · Gethsemane Prickle · Sanjay Shanker · Selina Sapworthy · Phyllida Spore · Yubert Thorne · Tilden Toots · Hadrian Whittle · Winogrand
Herbology at Hogwarts
Herbology Award · Herbology Lesson Cup · Herbology Race Cup · Herbology Store · Hidden Herbology Corridor
Greenhouses One · Two · Three · Four · Five · Six · Seven · Professor's office
Professors Mirabel Garlick's predecessor · Mirabel Garlick · Herbert Beery · Pomona Sprout · Neville Longbottom
Textbooks Flesh-Eating Trees of the World · Ingredient Encyclopedia · One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi · Winogrand's Wondrous Water Plants
Plants studied and grown at Hogwarts
Aconite · Alihotsy · Asphodel · Belladonna · Bouncing Bulb · Bubotuber · Bubotuber pus · Chinese Chomping Cabbage · Cowbane · Dandelion · Devil's Snare · Dirigible Plum · Dittany · Fanged Geranium · Fat cactus-like plant · Fire seed bush · Flitterbloom · Floo · Flutterby bush · Fluxweed · Gillyweed · Ginger · Greenhouse Tree · Hemlock · Honking daffodil · Ivy · Knotgrass · Lady's Mantle · Lavender · Leaping Toadstool · Lovage · Mandrake · Mimbulus mimbletonia · Mistletoe · Moly · Nettle · Peppermint · Puffapod · Raspberry · Rose · Sage · Screechsnap · Scurvy grass · Self-fertilising shrub · Shrivelfig · Snargaluff · Sneezewort · Sopophorous plant · Sopophorous Bean · Spiky Bush · Spiky Prickly Plant · Stinksap · Sugar Shrub · Toad-eating plant · Tormentil · Umbrella Flower · Valerian · Vampiric vegetation · Venomous Tentacula · Walking plant · Wax vegetables · Whomping Willow · Wiggentree · Wild rice · Wormwood
Spells taught in Herbology at Hogwarts
Fire-Making Spell (Incendio) · Herbivicus Charm (Herbivicus) · Incendio Duo Spell (Incendio Duo) · Lumos Solem Spell (Lumos Solem) · Severing Charm (Diffindo)
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