Mistletoe
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40 free Mistletoe trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Mistletoe is the one Christmas decoration that comes with its own rulebook, a starring role in an ancient murder story and a habit of living off the trees it grows on. People have hung it, feared it, prayed to it and sung about it for a very long time. These questions cover the kissing custom and where it came from, the myths and ceremonies of northern Europe, the odd biology that lets a leafy ball survive on a bare winter branch, and the songs, novels and comics that keep the plant in the spotlight every December. The quiz suits Christmas party hosts, pub quiz writers and anyone who has stood under a sprig and wondered why. Start with the familiar traditions and see how far the folklore takes you.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In the old mistletoe kissing custom, what was plucked from the sprig after each kiss?
A berry
A berry was plucked for every kiss, and once the sprig was bare the kissing had to stop.
Q 02Which US state adopted mistletoe as its floral emblem in 1893, years before it joined the Union?
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Territory chose mistletoe 14 years before statehood. It stood in as the state flower until the Oklahoma Rose was designated in 2004.
Q 03The tree-sized mistletoe Nuytsia floribunda puts out orange Christmas blooms in which country?
Australia
Australia is home to this giant, which taps the roots of neighbouring plants instead of perching on a branch. Its root attachments have even been found clamped onto buried cables.
Q 04The ending of the word mistletoe comes from the Old English tan, which meant what?
Twig
Twig is the meaning of tan, so the name is just 'mistle twig'. Mistle was the plant's older name, and the ending may have drifted to 'toe' once tan fell out of use as a word.
Q 05Which priests of ancient Gaul climbed a sacred tree to cut down mistletoe for a healing elixir?
Druids
Druids held nothing more sacred than mistletoe, in the words of the one Roman writer who described the rite. A drink made from it was meant to make barren animals fertile.
Q 06In Norse myth, which beloved god was killed by mistletoe, the only thing never sworn to spare him?
Baldr
Baldr seemed invulnerable, so the gods made a game of hurling things at him. His blind brother, handed the mistletoe by a schemer, threw the one shot that killed.
Q 07Dwarf mistletoes of North American pine forests spread their seeds mainly by what unusual means?
An explosion
An explosion of built-up water pressure bursts each ripe fruit, firing its single sticky seed at nearly 50 miles per hour.
Q 08Which Canadian singer released the single Mistletoe in 2011 ahead of a first Christmas album?
Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber led with Mistletoe, and its parent album became the first Christmas album by a male artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200.
Q 09What colour is the waxy fruit of European mistletoe, the kind traditionally hung at Christmas?
White
White fruit gives European mistletoe the 'album' in its scientific name. A cousin found in Spain and Morocco fruits red instead.
Q 10In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, who gives Harry a first kiss under the mistletoe?
Cho Chang
Cho Chang was still grieving for Cedric Diggory, who had died the previous year, which made Harry's first-ever kiss more awkward than romantic.
Q 11The ancient Gauls prized mistletoe most when it grew on which sturdy tree, a rare host for it?
Oak
Oak rarely carries European mistletoe, which is far more often found on poplar and lime. Finding it there was unusual enough to call for a ceremony.
Q 12A Roman account says a robed priest of Gaul cut mistletoe from the tree using what golden tool?
A sickle
A sickle of gold did the cutting while the mistletoe was caught in a cloak held below. The scene lives on in the bearded potion brewer of the Asterix comics.
Q 13Which Norse figure made a weapon from mistletoe after learning the plant had sworn no oath?
Loki
Loki, disguised as a woman, coaxed out the one gap in the oaths, then armed a blind god with the mistletoe and tricked him into the fatal shot.
Q 21A toxin in European mistletoe attacks cells in the same way as which notorious poison?
Ricin
Ricin, the castor-bean poison, and the mistletoe toxin both shut down a cell's protein-making machinery, though the mistletoe toxin gets in by a different route and can kill cells that resist ricin.
Q 22Botanists place mistletoes in the same plant order as which fragrant tropical timber tree?
Sandalwood
Sandalwood gives the order Santalales its name. Many of its members share one habit: tapping the stems or roots of other plants for water and minerals.
Q 23In the legend of the Mistletoe Bough, a bride playing hide-and-seek dies trapped inside what?
A chest
A chest in the attic became her tomb, and her skeleton was found in it decades later, still in the wedding dress. Several English mansions claim the tale as their own.
Q 14Frank Sinatra co-wrote a 1957 Christmas song named after mistletoe and which other plant?
Holly
Holly completes the title of Mistletoe and Holly, which Sinatra wrote with two associates for the album A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra.
Q 15In Europe, mistletoe extracts such as Iscador are widely prescribed to patients with which disease?
Cancer
Cancer patients in Europe are often given mistletoe injections, an idea that began with the philosopher Rudolf Steiner, though studies have found little evidence that they help.
Q 16Which family group covered I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, the mistletoe kiss song, in 1970?
The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5 version became a Christmas radio staple; the original was a 1952 chart-topper for 13-year-old Jimmy Boyd.
Q 17Which British singer topped the UK chart at Christmas 1988 with Mistletoe and Wine?
Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard took Mistletoe and Wine from a stage musical based on The Little Match Girl, and it became the UK's best-selling single of 1988.
Q 18In English orchards, European mistletoe is commonly found growing on which fruit tree?
Apple
Apple, lime and poplar are its favourite hosts, and in England it is most plentiful in the south and the West Midlands.
Q 19The European songbird named for its love of mistletoe fruit belongs to which bird family?
Thrush
Thrush is the family of the mistle thrush, which guards a mistletoe clump all winter and chases off rivals. Its droppings then plant the sticky seeds on new branches.
Q 20The dense, tangled clumps that mistletoe forms in a treetop go by what spooky popular name?
Witches' brooms
Witches' brooms made by dwarf mistletoes are so dense that northern spotted owls and marbled murrelets roost and nest inside them.
Q 24In the Harry Potter books, Luna Lovegood warns that mistletoe is infested with which creatures?
Nargles
Nargles are never explained in the books, and even characters raised around magic are baffled when Luna brings them up.
Q 25Mistletoe left hanging all year was once said to protect a house from fire and what other danger?
Lightning
Lightning and fire were the dangers an old bunch was kept to ward off, and it was only swapped for a fresh one the following Christmas Eve.
Q 26Kissing under the mistletoe was noted as popular among which group in late 18th-century England?
Servants
Servants are credited with keeping the tradition alive into Victorian times, when a woman who refused a kiss was said to be courting bad luck.
Q 27In the English editions of the Asterix comics, which villager cuts mistletoe for the magic potion?
Getafix
Getafix is Panoramix in the original French, and his potion gives the villagers superhuman strength. Its full recipe is never revealed, though lobster is an optional extra.
Q 28The Latin word for mistletoe gave English which adjective, thanks to the plant's gluey seed coating?
Viscous
Viscous comes from viscum, the Latin name for both mistletoe and the glue made from it, so thick syrups are described with a word borrowed from a Christmas plant.
Q 29Which Norse goddess made all things swear to spare her son, but skipped mistletoe as too young?
Frigg
Frigg thought the mistletoe shoot too young to swear an oath, and that single exemption cost her son his life.
Q 30Because mistletoe robs its host of water yet makes its own sugars, botanists give it which label?
Hemiparasite
Hemiparasite means half-parasite, and every mistletoe qualifies. Some lean on the host so heavily that they turn yellow and all but stop making food.