Flora of North America species comparison

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Arceuthobium douglasii

Douglas' dwarf mistletoe, Douglas-fir dwarf-mistletoe
Habit Plants forming systemic witches' brooms.
Stems

yellowish green, olive green, orange-brown, or maroon;

secondary branching fanlike, branches 2(–8) cm, third internode 2–6 × 1 mm, dominant shoot 1–1.5 mm diam. at base.
Staminate flowers

radially symmetric, subglobose in bud, 2.3 mm diam.;

petals (2–)3(–4), reddish or purple.
Berries

proximally olive green to purplish, distally yellow, brownish orange, or maroon, 3.5–4.5 × 1.5–2 mm.
Seeds

ellipsoid, 2.4 × 1.1 mm, endosperm bright green.
Staminate

pedicels present.
2n

= 28.

Arceuthobium douglasii
Phenology Flowering (Mar–)Apr–May(–Jun); fruiting Aug–Sep(–Oct).
Habitat Coniferous forests with Douglas fir.
Elevation 300–3300 m. (1000–10800 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; TX; UT; WA; WY; BC; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León)
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Discussion

Staminate meiosis occurs in September, pistillate in April, with fruits maturing 17 to 18 months after pollination; seeds germinate in March.

Arceuthobium douglasii has the widest latitudinal distribution of any North American dwarf mistletoe. Its principal host is Pseudotsuga menziesii, but it is occasionally found also on Abies amabilis, A. concolor, A. grandis, A. lasiocarpa, Picea engelmannii, and P. pungens. Plants of Arceuthobium douglasii induce massive systemic witches’ brooms that severely affect host growth and may eventually result in host mortality. Section Minuta Hawksworth & Wiens was erected to accommodate the two diminutive North American dwarf mistletoes, A. douglasii and A. pusillum. Isozymes and later DNA analyses showed that these two species are not closely related, thus their small shoot size and spring flowering evolved in parallel.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 426.
Parent taxa Viscaceae > Arceuthobium
Sibling taxa
A. americanum, A. campylopodum, A. divaricatum, A. gillii, A. pusillum, A. vaginatum
Synonyms Razoumofskya douglasii
Name authority Engelmann: in J. T. Rothrock, Rep. U.S. Geogr. Surv., Wheeler, 253. (1879)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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