Viscum album "Phoradendron leucarpum" is used in North America in lieu of the European "Viscum album".) According to an old Christmas custom, a man and a woman who meet under a hanging of mistletoe were obliged to kiss. The custom may be of Scandinavian origin. It was alluded to as common practice in 1808 and described in 1820 by American author Washington Irving in his "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.": In Germany, the Christmas tradition is that people who kiss under mistletoe will have an enduring love or are bound to marry one another. Every year, the UK town of
Common name Common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, trivial name, trivial epithet, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; this kind of name is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism, which is Latinized. A common name is sometimes frequently used, but that is by no means always the case. Sometimes common names are created by authorities on one particular subject, in an attempt to make it possible for members