Phoradendron

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iPhoradendron

Phoradendron californicum with fruit

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Santalales
Family:	Santalaceae
Genus:	Phoradendron Nutt.

Species

See text

Phoradendron juniperinum

Phoradendron is a genus of mistletoes, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Americas. Traditionally, the genus has been placed in its own family Viscaceae, but recent genetic research by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group shows this family to be correctly placed within a larger circumscription of the family Santalaceae.

They are woody hemi-parasitic shrubs with branches 10-80 cm long, which grow on other trees. The foliage is dichotomously branching, with opposite pairs of leaves; these are fairly large, 2-5 cm long, green and photosynthetic in some species (e.g. P. leucarpum), but minimal in some others (e.g. P. californicum). The plant draws its mineral and water needs, and some of its energy needs, from the host tree. Different species of Phoradendron tend to use different host species, though most species are able to utilise several different hosts.

The flowers are inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, 1-3 mm diameter. The fruit is a berry, white, yellow, orange, or red when mature, containing several seeds embedded in very sticky juice; the seeds are dispersed when birds (notably Cedar Waxwings and Phainopeplas) eat the fruit, and remove the sticky seeds from the bill by wiping them on tree branches where they can germinate.

The foliage and berries of some species are toxic.