Phoradendron californicum

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Phoradendron californicum
Phoradendron californicum berries 2.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Santalales
Family: Santalaceae
Genus: Phoradendron
Species:
P. californicum
Binomial name
Phoradendron californicum

Phoradendron californicum, the desert mistletoe or mesquite mistletoe, is a hemiparasitic plant native to southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja California. It can be found in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts at elevations of up to 1400 m (4600 feet). [1]

Contents

The mistletoe is a leafless plant that attaches to host plants, often leguminous woody desert trees such as Cercidium and Prosopis . [2] Desert mistletoe takes water and minerals from its host plants but it does its own photosynthesis, [2] making it a hemiparasite. Desert mistletoes, like mistletoes in general, weave nutrient cycles together through their unique life history.

Human Use

Common names include visco, tojí, tzavo, secapalo, injerto, and chili de espino in Spanish; aaxt in Seri. [3]

The white to reddish fruits are edible, but native tribes ate only the fruits of mistletoes growing on mesquite (Prosopis), ironwood ( Olneya tesota) or catclaw acacia ( Acacia greggii ). Found growing on palo verdes ( Parkinsonia ) or Condalia (desert buckthorn) the fruits are considered inedible. [4] The Seri people consider desert mistletoe fruit ripe and harvestable once it turns translucent. Harvest is done by spreading a blanket below the plant and hitting it with sticks to release the fruit. Seri consumed the fruit raw. [5] The Tohono O'odham also consumed the fruit raw. River Pima ate the fruit boiled and mashed, which made it the consistency of a pudding. The Cahuilla gathered the fruits November through April and boiled them into a paste with a sprinkle of wood ash added to the pot. [3] [6] [7]

Desert mistletoe plants, but not the berries, contain phoratoxins which can easily lead to death via slowed heart rate,[ citation needed ] increased blood pressure, convulsions, or cardiac arrest. Some of these compounds can cause hallucinations, but there is no way to judge dosage. People seeking a "high" from mistletoe still turn up in morgues each year. Native peoples used plants other than desert mistletoe to seek visions. [3]

Amateur entrepreneurs in Tucson, Phoenix and other cities in the Sonoran Desert frequently sell cuttings of desert mistletoe on street corners during the Christmas season. This is despite the fact that the species looks very different from other mistletoes traditionally used as holiday decorations elsewhere.

Pollination

Desert mistletoes are dioecious and rely on insects for pollination. They produce inconspicuous, fragrant flowers during the winter. A February 2015 inventory [8] observed 13 species of Diptera and 3 species of Hymenoptera observed on the female flowers of P. californicum in the catclaw acacias ( Acacia greggii ) of the Eldorado Mountains in the southern Mojave desert. The most abundant pollinator was the fruit fly Euarestoides acutangulus, followed by the blowfly Phormia regina then the hover fly Eupeodes volucris.

Dispersal

Female desert mistletoe plants produce red to clear berries that are eaten by the phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens), a silky flycatcher, which then spreads the seeds. Phainopeplas cannot digest the seed of desert mistletoe, so the birds disperse the seeds when they defecate or wipe their bills. The phainopepla is a specialist dispersal agent of desert mistletoe. A dispersal survey [9] observed phainapepla's were most common bird eating mistletoe berries, followed by the Northern mockingbird and Gila woodpeckers. The study noted that Phainopepla's are the most effective agent because they spend the majority of their time in host plants, while the mockingbird and woodpecker are generalists that do not spend as much time in the host plants.

Host Specialization

There is evidence to suggest that P. californicum is undergoing "host race evolution", which is a pattern of evolution which, in parasitic plants, results from specialization of different populations of the same parasite species to different hosts in an environment [10] . Host race evolution can possibly lead to speciation over time [11] [12] . There are genetic, morphological, and phenological differences in P. californicum individuals depending on the particular host on which they are found.

Isoenzymes are enzymes that perform the same phenotypic function, but vary genetically between individuals of the same species. Electrophoresis analysis has shown that isoenzymes differ significantly between P. californicum found on catclaw acacia (A. greggii) and honey mesquite (N. glandulosa), which are two common hosts that geographically co-concur [13] . Another study utilized microsatellite comparisons for mistletoe populations growing on catclaw acacia and velvet mesquite (P. velutina), finding significant variation between populations depending on host, and very few instances of heterozygosity in individual mistletoes [14] . This research suggests that mistletoe species growing on different hosts are experiencing some amount of genetic isolation, which may be contributing to their differentiation.

Morphologically, there are some recorded differences in physical characteristics between P. californicum individuals collected on various hosts. Internode length, berry color, and main/lateral shoot diameter ratio were shown to vary on average between mistletoes collected from catclaw acacia compared to honey mesquite [13] . Phenologically, the timing of mistletoe growth checkpoints appears to depend somewhat on the host it is growing on. Mistletoe growing on catclaw acacia were shown to flower about one month before mistletoe growing on velvet mesquite, even within a similar geographic area [14] . Additionally, various species of pollinators showed consistency in the hosts of the mistletoe they visited, suggesting a level of pre-zygotic isolation between host-specialized mistletoe populations [15] .

Overall, the specific driver of host specialization in P. californicum is still unknown, but there is evidence to support dispersal bird behavior [10] [15] [16] [17] , pollinator preferences [15] , and host defenses/signals [18] [19] [17] [20] [21] as possible factors based on research on both P. californicum and other mistletoe species. Interestingly, there is also evidence against climate change [22] and geographic isolation [14] as drivers of host race evolution in both P. californicum and other mistletoe species.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mistletoe</span> Common name for various parasitic plants that grow on trees and shrubs

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silky-flycatcher</span> Family of birds

The silky-flycatchers are a small family, Ptiliogonatidae, of passerine birds. The family contains only four species in three genera. They were formerly lumped with waxwings and hypocolius in the family Bombycillidae, and they are listed in that family by the Sibley-Monroe checklist. The family is named for their silky plumage and their aerial flycatching techniques, although they are unrelated to the Old World flycatchers (Muscicapidae) and the tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoran Desert</span> Desert in Mexico and the United States

The Sonoran Desert is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States. It is the hottest desert in both Mexico and the United States. It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi).

<i>Senegalia greggii</i> Species of tree

Senegalia greggii, formerly known as Acacia greggii, is a species of tree in the genus Senegalia native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas to Baja California, Sinaloa and Nuevo León in Mexico. The population in Utah at 37°10' N is the northernmost naturally occurring Senegalia species anywhere in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phainopepla</span> Genus of birds

The phainopepla or northern phainopepla is the most northerly representative of the mainly tropical Central American family Ptiliogonatidae, the silky flycatchers. Its name is from the Greek phain pepla meaning "shining robe" in reference to the male's plumage.

<i>Arceuthobium</i> Genus of mistletoes

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turtle Mountains (California)</span> Mountain range in California, United States

The Turtle Mountains, are located in northeastern San Bernardino County, in the southeastern part of California. The colorful Turtle Mountains vary from deep reds, browns, tans and grays, to black. The area has numerous springs and seeps. The Turtle Mountains are also a National Natural Landmark, with two mountain sections of entirely different composition.

<i>Phoradendron</i> Genus of mistletoes

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-throated woodrat</span> Species of rodent

The white-throated woodrat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found from central Mexico north to Utah and Colorado in the United States. It is primarily a western species in the United States, extending from central Texas west to southeastern California. Populations east of the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas, previously considered to be variants of the white-throated woodrat, have since 1988 been assigned to the white-toothed woodrat.

<i>Olneya</i> Genus of legumes

Olneya tesota is a perennial flowering tree of the family Fabaceae, legumes, which is commonly known as ironwood, desert ironwood, or palo fierro in Spanish. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Olneya. This tree is part of the western Sonoran Desert in Mexico and United States.

The Mopah Range is a desert mountain range, in the Lower Colorado River Valley region, in southeastern San Bernardino County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tricolor buckmoth</span> Species of moth

Hemileuca tricolor, the tricolor buckmoth, is a moth in the silkworm family Saturniidae. It is native mainly to the Sonoran Desert of the southwestern United States, including southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesquite Bosque</span>

Mesquite Bosque is a vegetative association within the Southwestern United States, under the Kuchler scheme of plant association categories.

<i>Amyema quandang</i> Species of plant

Amyema quandang is a species of hemi-parasitic shrub which is widespread throughout the mainland of Australia, especially arid inland regions, sometimes referred to as the grey mistletoe.

<i>Phoradendron macrophyllum</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Phoradendron tomentosum</i> Species of mistletoe

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.

<i>Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus</i> Species of flowering plant

Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name rayless goldenhead. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it occurs in southern California, southern Nevada, southern Utah, and Arizona.

The Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve is a 303-acre nature reserve that is part of the University of California Natural Reserve System. It is located near Yucca Valley, California in San Bernardino County, California. Administered by UC Irvine, the reserve is owned by the University of California and managed for teaching and research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Lee Nickrent</span> American botanist

Daniel Lee Nickrent is an American botanist, working in plant evolutionary biology, including the subdisciplines of genomics, phylogenetics, systematics, population genetics, and taxonomy. A major focus has been parasitic flowering plants, particularly of the sandalwood order (Santalales). His interest in photographic documentation and photographic databases has led to several photographic databases including Parasitic Plant Connection, Phytoimages, Plant Checklist for the Rocky Mountain National Park, and Plant Checklist for the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge.

References

  1. ↑ Hawksworth, F.G., & D. Wiens. 1993. Viscaceae, Mistletoe Family. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 27:241-245.
  2. 1 2 Spurrier, S., Smith, K.G. (2006). Desert mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum) infestation correlates with blue palo verde (Cercidium floridum) mortality during a severe drought in the Mojave Desert. Journal of Arid Environments. 69, 189-197.
  3. 1 2 3 Soule, J. A. 2010. Father Kino's Herbs: Growing Them & Using Them Today. Tierra del Sol Institute. Tucson, AZ. ISBN   978-0-9758554-2-3
  4. ↑ Nabhan, G. P. 1985. Gathering the Desert. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
  5. ↑ Felger, R. S. and M. B. Moser. 1985. People of the Desert and Sea. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
  6. ↑ Ebling, W. 1986. Handbook of Indian Foods and Fibers of Arid America. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
  7. ↑ Hodgson, W. C. 2001. Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ.
  8. ↑ Wiesenborn, William D. (2016). "Conspecific pollen loads on insects visiting female flowers on parasitic Phoradendron californicum (Viscaceae)". Western North American Naturalist. 76 (1): 113–121. doi:10.3398/064.076.0112.
  9. ↑ Larson, Diane (1996). "Seed dispersal by specialist versus generalist foragers: the plant's perspective". Oikos. 76 (1): 113–120. Bibcode:1996Oikos..76..113L. doi:10.2307/3545753. JSTOR   3545753.
  10. 1 2 Okubamichael, Desale Y.; Griffiths, Megan E.; Ward, David (2016-01-01). "Host specificity in parasitic plants—perspectives from mistletoes". AoB Plants. 8. doi:10.1093/aobpla/plw069. ISSN   2041-2851. PMC   5206351 . PMID   27658817.
  11. ↑ "Host specificity and speciation in parasitic plants". biology2.web.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  12. ↑ Zhang, Jiayin; Huang, Zihao; Fu, Weirui; Zhang, Chi; Zan, Ting; Nan, Peng; Li, Linfeng; Song, Zhiping; Zhang, Wenju; Yang, Ji; Wang, Yuguo (September 2023). "Host shift promotes divergent evolution between closely related holoparasitic species". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 186: 107842. Bibcode:2023MolPE.18607842Z. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107842. PMID   37321361.
  13. 1 2 Glazner, Jeffrey T.; Devlin, B.; Ellstrand, Norman C. (1988). "Biochemical and morphological evidence for host race evolution in desert mistletoe,Phoradendron californicum (Viscaceae)". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 161 (1–2): 13–21. Bibcode:1988PSyEv.161...13G. doi:10.1007/BF00936008. ISSN   0378-2697.
  14. 1 2 3 Yule, Kelsey M.; Koop, Jennifer A. H.; Alexandre, Nicolas M.; Johnston, Lauren R.; Whiteman, Noah K. (July 2016). "Population structure of a vector-borne plant parasite". Molecular Ecology. 25 (14): 3332–3343. Bibcode:2016MolEc..25.3332Y. doi:10.1111/mec.13693. ISSN   0962-1083. PMID   27154249.
  15. 1 2 3 Yule, Kelsey M.; Bronstein, Judith L. (February 2018). "Reproductive ecology of a parasitic plant differs by host species: vector interactions and the maintenance of host races". Oecologia. 186 (2): 471–482. Bibcode:2018Oecol.186..471Y. doi:10.1007/s00442-017-4038-6. ISSN   0029-8549. PMID   29222720.
  16. ↑ Aukema, Juliann Eve (April 2004). "Distribution and dispersal of desert mistletoe is scale-dependent, hierarchically nested". Ecography. 27 (2): 137–144. Bibcode:2004Ecogr..27..137A. doi:10.1111/j.0906-7590.2004.03640.x. ISSN   0906-7590.
  17. 1 2 Overton, Jacob McC. (December 1994). "Dispersal and Infection in Mistletoe Metapopulations". The Journal of Ecology. 82 (4): 711–723. Bibcode:1994JEcol..82..711O. doi:10.2307/2261437. JSTOR   2261437.
  18. ↑ Muche, Meseret; Muasya, A. Muthama; Tsegay, Berhanu Abraha (December 2022). "Biology and resource acquisition of mistletoes, and the defense responses of host plants". Ecological Processes. 11 (1): 24. Bibcode:2022EcoPr..11...24M. doi: 10.1186/s13717-021-00355-9 . ISSN   2192-1709.
  19. ↑ Medel, Rodrigo; Mendez, Marco A.; Ossa, Carmen G.; Botto-Mahan, Carezza (March 2010). "Arms Race Coevolution: The Local and Geographical Structure of a Host–Parasite Interaction". Evolution: Education and Outreach. 3 (1): 26–31. doi:10.1007/s12052-009-0191-7. ISSN   1936-6426.
  20. ↑ Randle, Christopher P.; Cannon, Brandi C.; Faust, Amber L.; Hawkins, Angela K.; Cabrera, Sara E.; Lee, Stephen; Lewis, Michelle L.; Perez, Amy A.; Sopas, James; Verastegui, Timothy J.; Williams, Justin K. (September 2018). "Host Cues Mediate Growth and Establishment of Oak Mistletoe ( Phoradendron leucarpum, Viscaceae), an Aerial Parasitic Plant". Castanea. 83 (2): 249–262. doi:10.2179/18-173. ISSN   0008-7475.
  21. ↑ Rödl, T.; Ward, D. (February 2002). "Host recognition in a desert mistletoe: early stages of development are influenced by substrate and host origin". Functional Ecology. 16 (1): 128–134. Bibcode:2002FuEco..16..128R. doi:10.1046/j.0269-8463.2001.00592.x. ISSN   0269-8463.
  22. ↑ Ornelas, Juan Francisco; García, José Manuel; Ortiz-Rodriguez, Andrés E; Licona-Vera, Yuyini; Gándara, Etelvina; Molina-Freaner, Francisco; Vásquez-Aguilar, Antonio Acini (2019-03-05). "Tracking Host Trees: The Phylogeography of Endemic Psittacanthus sonorae (Loranthaceae) Mistletoe in the Sonoran Desert". Journal of Heredity. 110 (2): 229–246. doi:10.1093/jhered/esy065. ISSN   0022-1503.
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