Phoradendron californicum
Phoradendron capitellatum
California mesquite mistletoe, desert mistletoe, mesquite mistletoe
downy mistletoe, hairy mistletoe, woolly mistletoe
grayish green to reddish green (in full sun), densely hairy, hairs silvery white, closely appressed, becoming glabrate;
internodes terete, 10–20(–30) × 1–1.7(–2.5) mm.
green, densely hairy, hairs stellate, fine, white;
internodes terete, 5–15 × 1–2 mm.
grayish green, scalelike;
blade triangular, 1.5–3 mm, apex acute;
basal phyllotaxy transverse or median.
green, well developed;
petiole indistinct;
blade narrowly elliptic to spatulate or oblanceolate, 8–15 × 1–3 mm, fleshy, base cuneate, apex rounded or acute;
basal phyllotaxy median.
petals 3(–4), 1–2 mm.
petals 3, 1 mm.
white, translucent yellowish, pinkish, orange-red, or maroon, globose, 3–6 × 3–6 mm, glabrous.
pinkish white, globose, 3.5 × 3.5 mm, glabrous.
inflorescence 5–25 mm, peduncle with 1(–2) internodes, each 0.5–3 mm;
fertile internodes (1–)2–3(–5), each 6–14-flowered, biseriate, flowers 1–3 per column.
inflorescences 3–5 mm;
peduncle with 1 internode, 0.5–2.5 mm;
fertile internodes 1–2, each 6-flowered, seriation unknown, flowers 3 (2 proximal, 1 distal) per bract.
inflorescences 5–10 mm, elongating in fruit;
peduncle with 1(–2) internodes, each 0.5–3 mm;
fertile internodes (1–)2–4(–6), each 2-flowered, flowers 1 per bract.
inflorescences 3–5 mm;
peduncle with 1 internode, 0.5–2.5 mm;
fertile internodes 1–2, each 2-flowered, flowers 1 per bract, deeply embedded in axis.
= 28.
= 28.
Phoradendron californicum
Phoradendron capitellatum
Phoradendron californicum, like P. juniperinum, bears only scalelike leaves, but this character has evolved independently in the two species (V. E. T. M. Ashworth 2000). Phoradendron californicum differs by its different hosts (legumes versus conifers) and inflorescences with more than one fertile internode. Molecular data indicate that P. californicum is not part of the acataphyllous Boreales group in the sense of W. Trelease (1916) but allied with cataphyllous tropical species (Ashworth). Varieties and host races have been proposed but these are not recognized in the most recent monograph of the genus (J. Kuijt 2003). In addition to its primary hosts, Prosopis, Senegalia, and Vachellia, Phoradendron californicum has also been recorded from a number of other hosts including Condalia, Dalea, Ebenopsis, Havardia, Larrea, Olneya, Parkinsonia, and sometimes is hyperparasitic on Psittacanthus.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Phoradendron capitellatum is parasitic exclusively on Juniperus (for example, J. monosperma, J. osteosperma, and J. pinchotii). This species has sometimes been classified as a subspecies of P. bolleanum; however, it differs in flowering time, basal phyllotaxy, stellate pubescence, and inflorescences sometimes with more than one fertile internode. These two species, along with P. juniperinum, were supported as monophyletic using molecular data, although relationships among them were not fully resolved (V. E. T. M. Ashworth 2000). These parasites of conifers were all classified in sect. Pauciflorae Engler in the sense of D. Wiens (1964).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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