Arceuthobium abietinum

Plant: aerial parasitic shrub; 2-25 cm high, glabrous, dioecious; SHOOTS 6-15(-22) cm high, 2-6 mm wide at base, yellow to yellow-green Leaves: reduced to minute scales INFLORESCENCE: axillary spikes. Flowers: decussate (sometimes whorled), short pedicellate; staminate flowers with a central nectary, the perianth segments (2-)3-4(-5), each segment bearing a sessile, circular, uniloculate anther, staminate flowers ca. 2.5 mm in diameter; tepals 3(-4); pistillate flowers with a single style and rounded stigma, the perianth segments 2, persistent Fruit: ca. 4 mm long, 2 mm wide, bicolored, dehiscing explosively (to 15 m); pedicels curved at maturity; SEED without a thickened seed coat, eaten and distributed primarily by birds or dispersed explosively REFERENCES: Hawksworth, Frank G. 1994. Viscaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 241-245.