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European mistletoe (Viscum album) attached to a dormant common aspen (Populus tremula) Mistletoe in an apple tree. Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the ...
The plant contains a haustorium that connects it to the host tree by connecting the xylem and phloem of the mistletoe to that of the host tree, which allows it to receive nutrients and water. [4] It has stems 30–100 centimetres (12–39 in) long with dichotomous branching.
Mistletoe is considered a hemiparasite, which is a plant that carries out photosynthesis but is almost completely dependent on its host for everything else it needs.
Viscum is a genus of about 70–100 species of mistletoes, native to temperate and tropical regions of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia. [1] 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 sandalwood family, Santalaceae.
Phoradendron species are hemiparasites which produce their own chlorophyll but rely on the host plant to provide water, minerals, and other nutrients. [12] Birds are the primary means of dispersal of the parasite. [13] Birds consume the drupes of the mistletoe and excrete or regurgitate the seeds onto the branches of the host plant. The seeds ...
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.
Eastern dwarf mistletoe is a hemiparasitic plant which grows inside the stems of a host plant. Once a seed lands on a branch it will germinate and grow a haustorium which penetrates past the cambium layer and into the host's xylem and phloem tissues; from those tissues it gathers nutrients needed for its own growth and reproduction. [5]
Peraxilla colensoi, the scarlet mistletoe, is a shrubby parasitic plant composed of broad, leathery leaves that grow up to 8 cm long and have a red edge. The common name is derived from the scarlet petals of the plant that bloom every October to January. These mistletoes are parasitic plants whose seeds attach themselves to host plants.