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.

During the winter it produces inconspicuous, fragrant flowers. 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.

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.

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

The Sonoran Desert is a desert in North America and ecoregion 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>Parkinsonia</i> Genus of legumes

Parkinsonia, also Cercidium, is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 12 species that are native to semi-desert regions of Africa and the Americas. The name of the genus honors English apothecary and botanist John Parkinson (1567–1650).

<i>Parkinsonia microphylla</i> Species of tree

Parkinsonia microphylla, the yellow paloverde, foothill paloverde or little-leaved palo verde; syn. Cercidium microphyllum), is a species of palo verde.

<i>Parkinsonia florida</i> Species of tree native to the Sonoran Desert

Parkinsonia florida, the blue palo verde, is a species of palo verde native to the Sonoran Deserts in the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. Its name means "green pole or stick" in Spanish, referring to the green trunk and branches, that perform photosynthesis.

<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.

<i>Prosopis glandulosa</i> Species of tree

Prosopis glandulosa, commonly known as honey mesquite, is a species of small to medium-sized, thorny shrub or tree in the legume family (Fabaceae).

<i>Prosopis velutina</i> Species of tree

Prosopis velutina, commonly known as velvet mesquite, is a small to medium-sized tree. It is a legume adapted to a dry, desert climate. Though considered to be a noxious weed in states outside its natural range, it plays a vital role in the ecology of the Sonoran Desert.

<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 complex in the Southwestern United States.

<i>Bursera microphylla</i> Species of flowering plant

Bursera microphylla, known by the common name elephant tree in English or 'torote' in Spanish, is a tree in genus Bursera. It grows into a distinctive sculptural form, with a thickened, water-storing or caudiciform trunk. It is found in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.

<i>Condea emoryi</i> Species of flowering plant

Condea emoryi, the desert lavender, is a large, multi-stemmed shrub species of flowering plant in Lamiaceae, the mint family.

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>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.

<i>Lycium pallidum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lycium pallidum is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family known by the common names pale wolfberry and pale desert-thorn. It is native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. In Mexico it can be found in Sonora, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi. In the United States it occurs from California to Texas and as far north as Utah and Colorado.

<i>Syssphinx hubbardi</i> Species of moth

Syssphinx hubbardi, or Hubbard's silk moth, is a species of moth in the family Saturniidae. It is found in Mexico and the southern United States.

<i>Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum</i> Species of cactus

Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum is a columnar cactus plant native to Mexico. They can grow up to 15 m (49 ft) high. The trunk of this species is 1.2 to 5.0 m tall and the fruits are large and burr-like. The specific name, pecten-aboriginum, is from the Latin, and means "native combs". It was inspired by the use of the fruits as hair combs.

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.
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