Plant: aerial parasitic shrub; 2-25 cm high, glabrous, dioecious; SHOOTS 4-6(-10) cm high, 1.5-2.5 mm wide at base, green to purple Leaves: reduced to minute scales INFLORESCENCE: axillary spikes Flowers: decussate (sometimes whorled), short pedicellate; STAMINATE FLOWERS 2.3 mm in diameter, the tepals 3(-4), with a central nectary, the perianth segments (2-)3-4(-5), each segment bearing a sessile, circular, uniloculate anther; PISTILLATE FLOWERS 1 mm in diameter, 1 mm long, with a single style and rounded stigma, the perianth segments 2, persistent Fruit: 3.5 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 Misc: Mixed conifer forests; 2400-3150 m (7900-10400 ft); Aug-Sep Notes: HOSTS: Picea engelmannii and Picea pungens, also on Pinus aristata REFERENCES: Hawksworth, Frank G. 1994. Viscaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 241-245.