Viscum album treatment of cancer originated with Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy. Although laboratory and animal experiments have suggested that mistletoe extract may affect the immune system and be able to kill some kinds of cancer cells, there is little evidence of its benefit to people with cancer. The sticky juice of mistletoe berries was used to make birdlime, an adhesive to trap small animals or birds. Viscum album Viscum album is a species of mistletoe in the family Santalaceae, commonly known as European mistletoe, common mistletoe or simply as mistletoe (Old English "mistle"). It is native to Europe and western
Viscum nudum"), but with the plant drawing its mineral and water needs from the host tree. Different species of "Viscum" tend to use different host species; most species are able to use several different host species. The flowers are inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, diameter. The fruit is a berry, white, yellow, orange, or red when mature, containing one or more seeds embedded in very sticky juice; the seeds are dispersed when birds (notably the mistle thrush) eat the fruit, and remove the sticky seeds from the bill by wiping them on tree branches where they can germinate. "Viscum" species are poisonous to humans;