Maybe you've seen this plant during the Christmas season. Couples kissing under this beautiful leafy plant. You may also hear it mentioned in holiday songs and poems. The plant I'm talking about is mistletoe. The holiday plant, mistletoe, is best known for the kissing tradition, however mistletoe has been very useful in medical events and cultures and has influenced various trees. Mistletoe has been extremely beneficial to medical science over the centuries. It is known to help treat or relieve epilepsy, hypertension, headaches, menopausal symptoms, infertility, arthritis and rheumatism. Mistletoe is one of the most effective remedies of alternative medicine against cancer. In European countries, European mistletoe extracts are among the most prescribed remedies for cancer patients.” (National Cancer Institute p.2) In the International Journal of Cancer, they performed multiple tests with mistletoe extract and found that the clinical test results are highly inconsistent. In fact, the most severe tests have found that there is no improvement in the patient's quality of life. “The search terms were alternative medicine, cancer, controlled clinical trial, Eurixor®, Helixor®, Iscador®, lectin, neoplasms, Mistel, mistletoe and derivatives. Additionally, manufacturers of commercial mistletoe products and other experts were asked to contribute published and unpublished material, and our extensive files were manually reviewed. (Eduard Ernst, Katja Schmidt and Miriam Katharina Steuer-Vogt p.262–267) Due to limited data on the effectiveness of mistletoe, only patients with primary or secondary brain tumors, leukemia or malignant lymphoma are treated with mistletoe extract. Mistletoe extract is not used on pregnant or breastfeeding women, ...... middle of paper ...... er?" - Ernst.Np, August 6, 2003. Web. April 29, 2014."Excerpts Mistletoe ( PDQ®)." - National Cancer Institute. Np, nd Web. April 28, 2014. "Mistletoe Uses, Benefits and Side Effects - Herbal Drugs.com Database." Mistletoe Uses, Benefits and Side Effects - Drugs.com Herbal Database. Web. April 30, 2014. Drugs.com. Moore, "Mistletoe." Copyright 2003 Michael MooreSuszynski, Barbara Suszynski and Sam Abramson mistletoe works. Web. "The tradition of mistletoe at Christmas". 2014.