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.
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.
The great purple hairstreak, also called the great blue hairstreak, is a common gossamer-winged butterfly species in parts of the United States. It is actually a Neotropical species; its North American range only includes the warm-temperate and subtropical parts of that continent, and it ranges southwards almost to the Isthmus of Panama. The type specimen, however, was shipped to Europe from the Colony of Virginia, probably around the time of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Abies concolor, the white fir or Colorado fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Cascade Range and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain ranges of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. It naturally occurs at elevations between 900 and 3,400 metres.
Calocedrus decurrens, with the common names incense cedar and California incense cedar, is a species of coniferous tree native to western North America. It is the most widely known species in the genus, and is often simply called incense cedar without the regional qualifier.
Viscum album is a species of mistletoe in the family Santalaceae, commonly known as European mistletoe, common mistletoe or simply as mistletoe. It is native to Europe and western and southern Asia.
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.
Phoradendron leucarpum is a species of mistletoe in the Viscaceae family which is native to the United States and Mexico. Its common names include American mistletoe, eastern mistletoe, hairy mistletoe and oak mistletoe. It is native to Mexico and the continental United States. It is hemiparasitic, living in the branches of trees. The berries are white and 3–6 millimeters (0.12–0.24 in). It has opposite leaves that are leathery and thick. Ingesting the berries can cause "stomach and intestinal irritation with diarrhea, lowered blood pressure, and slow pulse". This shrub can grow to 1 meter (3.3 ft) by 1 meter (3.3 ft).
Korthalsella is a genus of flowering plants in the sandalwood family, Santalaceae. It contains about 25 species distributed in Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific Islands.
Phoradendron densum Trel. is a species of flowering plant in the sandalwood family known by the common name dense mistletoe. It is native to the western United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows in various types of woodland habitat. It has been reported from California, Oregon, Arizona and Baja California. This mistletoe parasitizes species of cypress, including Arizona cypress, and juniper.
Phoradendron juniperinum is a species of flowering plant in the sandalwood family known by the common name juniper mistletoe. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in various types of woodland habitat. It has been reported from California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Texas, Chihuahua and Sonora.
Phoradendron libocedri is a species of flowering plant in the sandalwood family known by the common name incense-cedar mistletoe. It is native to western North America from Oregon to Baja California, where it grows in forests on its host tree, the California incense-cedar.
Phoradendron macrophyllum is a species of flowering plant in the sandalwood family known by the common names Colorado Desert mistletoe, bigleaf mistletoe, and Christmas mistletoe. It is native to western United States and northern Mexico from Oregon to Colorado to Texas to Baja California, where it grows in many types of wooded habitat at elevations up to 1700 m.
Phoradendron villosum is a species of flowering plant in the sandalwood family known by the common names Pacific mistletoe and oak mistletoe. It is native to western North America from Oregon south into Mexico, where it grows in oak woodland and similar habitat.
Phoradendron tomentosum, the leafy mistletoe, hairy mistletoe or Christmas mistletoe, is a plant parasite. It is characterized by its larger leaves and smaller berries than dwarf mistletoe. Leafy mistletoe seldom kill but they do rob their hosts of moisture and some minerals, causing stress during drought and reducing crop productions on fruit and nut trees. Leafy mistletoe has the ability to photosynthesize on its own but it relies on other plants in order to obtain its nutrients. It attaches itself to a tree and then grows haustoria, in order to get the food and water it needs.
P. macrophyllum may refer to:
Phoradendron coryae, Cory's mistletoe or oak mistletoe, is a hemiparasitic plant native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is reported from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Sonora.
Oak mistletoe is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
Hairy mistletoe is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
Phoratoxins are a group of peptide toxins that belong to the family of thionins, a subdivision of small plant toxins. Phoratoxins are proteins present in the leaves and branches of the Phoradendron, commonly known as the American variant of the mistletoe, a plant commonly used as decoration during the festive season. The berries of the mistletoe do not contain phoratoxins, making them less toxic compared to other parts of the plant. The toxicity of the mistletoe is dependent on the host tree, since mistletoe is known to be a semi-parasite. The host tree provides fixed inorganic nitrogen compounds necessary for the mistletoe to synthesize phoratoxins.
