PLANTS: Aerial shrubs parasitic on dicot or coniferous shrubs and trees, 2-15 dm high, woody, glabrous or hairy, dioecious in AZ (some tropical species monoecious). SHOOTS: usually some shade of green, but sometimes reddish. LEAVES: simple, entire, decussate, but reduced to minute scales in 2 species. INFLORESCENCE: axillary spikes with 1-7 fertile segments. FLOWERS: sunken along the axis; perianth segments usually 3, persistent in fruit; staminate flower with a sessile minute (less than 2 mm), 2-chambered anther; pistillate flower with a single style and rounded stigma. FRUIT: 3-6 mm in diameter, sessile, white, pink, or reddish; eaten and dispersed by birds. (Greek: phor = thief + dendron = tree). NOTES: ca. 200 spp. in the U.S., north temperate, tropical and subtropical distribution in the New World. Trelease, W. 1916. The Genus Phoradendron, Univ. Ill. Press; Wiens, D. 1964. Brittonia 16:11-54. REFERENCES: Hawksworth, Frank G. 1994. Viscaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 241-245.