However, mistletoes growing in wetter places grow large leaves, like the mistletoe I spotted in the Lombardy poplars, which also grows in cottonwoods and ash trees. This mistletoe is widely used for Christmas decorations because of its large, pretty, oval, green leaves and glistening white berries. Green mistletoes like this one manufacture chlorophyll, and produce some of their own food. Yellowish or brownish mistletoes are completely parasitic, lacking chlorophyll altogether. One of the completely parasitic mistletoes, juniper mistletoe, or bellota de sabina in northern New Mexico, is used in traditional medicine.
Some curanderos prescribe it to staunch bleeding and induce abortions in sheep and goats.
Navajos make a soothing lotion for insect bites and to cure warts by boiling equal amounts of the mistletoe and the juniper that it grows on. Mistletoe, in turn, depends on avian consumers to spread its seeds. The mistletoe I spotted in the Lombardy poplars nearby is the kind used for Christmas decorations. Perhaps I'll cut a few of its branches to make a kissing ball for my house.