Juniper dwarf mistletoe | |
---|---|
Arceuthobium oxycedri | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Santalales |
Family: | Santalaceae |
Genus: | Arceuthobium |
Species: | A. oxycedri |
Binomial name | |
Arceuthobium oxycedri | |
Arceuthobium oxycedri, juniper dwarf mistletoe, is a hemiparasite of the family Santalaceae. It parasitizes members of the genus Juniperus , especially Juniperus oxycedrus and Juniperus communis . [2]
The juniper mistletoe is small in size averaging between 2 and 15 cm. This dioecious plant has a very small stem and the leaves consist of small sheets with sessile flowers. It is distributed throughout much of Europe, Asia and parts of northern Africa. [3]
Arceuthobium oxycedri was described by Friedrich August von Marschall Bieberstein and published in Flora Tauric-Caucasica 3: 629, in 1819. [4]
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. Their parasitic lifestyle has led to some dramatic changes in their metabolism.
Juniperus communis, the common juniper, is a species of small tree or shrub in the genus Juniperus, in the family Cupressaceae. This evergreen conifer has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic south in mountains to around 30°N latitude in North America, Europe and Asia. Relict populations can be found in the Atlas Mountains of Africa.
Juniperus virginiana, known as red cedar, eastern redcedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, pencil cedar, and aromatic cedar, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and east of the Great Plains. Further west it is replaced by the related Juniperus scopulorum and to the southwest by Juniperus ashei.
The genus Arceuthobium, commonly called dwarf mistletoes, is a genus of 26 species of parasitic plants that parasitize members of Pinaceae and Cupressaceae in North America, Central America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Of the 42 species that have been recognized, 39 and 21 of these are endemic to North America and the United States, respectively. They all have very reduced shoots and leaves with the bulk of the plant living under the host's bark. Recently the number of species within the genus has been reduced to 26 as a result of more detailed genetic analysis.
Juniperus oxycedrus, vernacularly called Cade, cade juniper, prickly juniper, prickly cedar, or sharp cedar, is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region from Morocco and Portugal, north to southern France, east to westernmost Iran, and south to Lebanon and Israel, growing on a variety of rocky sites from sea level up to 1600 m elevation. The specific epithet oxycedrus means "sharp cedar" and this species may have been the original cedar or cedrus of the ancient Greeks.
Juniperus osteosperma is a shrub or small tree reaching 3–6 m tall. It is native to the southwestern United States, in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, western New Mexico, western Colorado, Wyoming, southern Montana, southern Idaho and eastern California. It grows at moderate altitudes of 1,300–2,600 metres (4,300–8,500 ft), on dry soils, often together with Pinus monophylla.
Juniperus drupacea, the Syrian juniper, is a species of juniper native to the eastern Mediterranean region from southern Greece, southern Turkey, western Syria, and Lebanon, growing on rocky sites from 800–1700 m altitude.
Juniperus occidentalis, known as the western juniper, is a shrub or tree native to the western United States, growing in mountains at altitudes of 800–3,000 metres (2,600–9,800 ft) and rarely down to 100 metres (330 ft). It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List because it is a widespread species with an increasing population.
Juniperus scopulorum, the Rocky Mountain juniper, is a species of juniper native to western North America, in Canada in British Columbia and southwest Alberta, in the United States from Washington east to North Dakota, south to Arizona and also locally western Texas, and northernmost Mexico from Sonora east to Coahuila. This evergreen conifer grows at altitudes of 500–2,700 metres (1,600–8,900 ft) on dry soils, often together with other juniper species. Scopulorum means "of the mountains".
Juniperus sabina, the savin juniper or savin, is a species of juniper native to the mountains of central and southern Europe and western and central Asia, from Spain to eastern Siberia, typically growing at altitudes of 1,000-3,300 m ASL.
Juniperus thurifera is a species of juniper native to the mountains of the western Mediterranean region, from southern France across eastern and central Spain to Morocco and locally in northern Algeria.
Juniperus squamata is a species of juniper native to the Himalayas and China, from northeastern Afghanistan east to western Yunnan in southwestern China, and with disjunct populations north to western Gansu and east to Fujian. It grows at 1,600-4,900 m altitude. It represents the provincial tree of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (unofficial).
Juniperus procera is a coniferous tree native to mountainous areas in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is a characteristic tree of the Afromontane flora.
Phoradendron is a genus of mistletoe, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Americas. The center of diversity is the Amazon rainforest. Phoradendron is the largest genus of mistletoe in the Americas, and possibly the largest genus of mistletoes in the world. Traditionally, the genus has been placed in the family Viscaceae, but recent genetic research acknowledged by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group shows this family to be correctly placed within a larger circumscription of the sandalwood family, Santalaceae.
Juniperus phoenicea, the Phoenicean juniper or Arâr, is a juniper found throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal east to Italy, Turkey and Egypt, south on the mountains of Lebanon, the Palestine region and in western Saudi Arabia near the Red Sea, and also on Madeira and the Canary Islands. It mostly grows at low altitudes close to the coast, but reaches 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) altitude in the south of its range in the Atlas Mountains. It is the vegetable symbol of the island of El Hierro.
Juniperus foetidissima, with common names foetid juniper or stinking juniper, is a juniper tree species in the family Cupressaceae.
Juniperus pseudosabina, the Turkestan juniper or dwarf black juniper is a species of juniper.
Juniperus semiglobosa is a species of juniper native to the mountains of Central Asia, in northeastern Afghanistan, westernmost China (Xinjiang), northern Pakistan, southeastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, western Nepal, northern Republic of India, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It grows at altitudes of 1,550–4,350 metres (5,090–14,270 ft) .
Juniperus macropoda, also called Juniperus excelsa polycarpos, or the Pashtun juniper, is a putative species of juniper native to northern and central Balochistan in western Pakistan, and southeastern Afghanistan.