Common Name: MISTLETOE FAMILY
Habit: Perennial herb, shrub, generally +- green, parasitic on aboveground parts of woody plants; dioecious [monoecious]. Stem: brittle; 2° branches generally many. Leaf: simple, entire, opposite, 4-ranked, with blade or scale-like (then each pair generally fused). Inflorescence: spikes or cymes, axillary or terminal; bracts opposite, 4-ranked, scale-like, each pair fused. Flower: unisexual, radial, 2--4 mm; perianth parts in 1 series. Staminate Flower: perianth parts 3--4(7); anthers generally sessile, opposite and generally on perianth parts. Pistillate Flower: perianth parts generally 2--4; ovary inferior, 1-chambered, style unbranched, stigma +- obscure. Fruit: berry, shiny. Seed: 1(2), without thickened coat, gelatinous.
Genera In Family: 7 genera, +- 450 species: tropics, generally northern temperate. Toxicity: All parts of most members may be TOXIC. Note: Sometimes included in Loranthaceae; parasitic on plants in many other families.
eFlora Treatment Author: Job Kuijt
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: DWARF MISTLETOE
Habit: Perennial herb, shrub, glabrous. Stem: generally < 20 cm, +- angled at least when young, +- yellow, +- green, brown, purple; branches whorled or in 1 plane. Leaf: < 1 mm, scale-like. Inflorescence: generally spikes, peduncle short; flowers generally opposite, 4-ranked, less often whorled or 1, terminal. Staminate Flower: perianth parts generally 3--4; anthers +- 1-chambered. Pistillate Flower: perianth parts 2, persistent, minute. Fruit: generally 2--5 mm, broadly fusiform-spheric, 2-colored (1 color below, 1 above); pedicel short, recurved; seeds projected to 15 m by fruit explosion.
Etymology: (Greek: juniper, life) Note: Most important of timber pathogens; most species cause abnormal branching (witches' brooms) in hosts. Recent molecular studies support reunification of many western North American species under Arceuthobium campylopodum.
eFlora Treatment Author: Job Kuijt
Reference: Nickrent et al. 2004 Amer J Bot 91:125--138