Biorepository Data Portal

Hawksworth and Wiens 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Shrub General: Perennial, aerial parasitic subshrub with shoots 30-50 cm long, green, glabrous, with internodes 8-15 mm long. Leaves: Oblanceolate to oblong, sessile, 1.5-2.5 cm long, 2-3 mm wide, glabrous. Flowers: Staminate spikes with usually 1 fertile segment; usually with 6-10 flowers per segment; pistillate spikes with usually 1 fertile segment and 2 flowers per segment; flowers are glabrous, white-pinkish, sunken along axis and 4 mm in diameter; perianth segments usually three, persistent in fruit; pistillate flower with a single style and rounded stigma. Fruits: Mucilaginous berry, 3-6 mm in diameter, sessile, explosively dehiscent. Ecology: Found on Cupressus arizonicus from 3,500-5,500 ft (1067-1676 m); flowers June-August. Notes: Distinguished by its glabrous leaves and being found on Cupressus arizonicus. Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genera have a variety of uses. Etymology: Phoradendron is from Greek phor, a thief and dendron, tree-hence tree thief because of its parasitism, while densum means dense, referring to its dense habit. Synonyms: Phoradendron bolleanum subsp. densum, P. bolleanum var. densum Editor: SBuckley, 2010