Phoradendron californicum – Mesquite Mistletoe
Plant Name
Scientific Name: Phoradendron californicum
Common Names: Mesquite Mistletoe, Desert Mistletoe
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub, Hemiparasite
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert
Flower Color: Inconspicuous (yellowish)
Flowering Season: Winter, Spring (early)
Height: To 3.3 feet (1 m) long
Description: The plants are dioecious with tiny, inconspicuous, yellowish flowers. The female plants produce numerous, spherical, translucent, white, pink, or red berries that are adored by fruit-eating birds, especially Phainopeplas (Phainopepla nitens). Birds are responsible for spreading and "planting" the seeds in their droppings. The leaves are tiny and scale-like. The stems are green. These aerial hemiparasites grow on the branches of woody shrubs and trees. The main host plants are Acacia, Olneya, Parkinsonia, and Prosopis species, which are desert trees and shrubs in the Pea Family (Fabaceae).
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Santalales
Family: Viscaceae – Christmas Mistletoe family
Genus: Phoradendron Nutt. – mistletoe
Species: Phoradendron californicum Nutt. – mesquite mistletoe
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