Arceuthobium abietinum
Encyclopedia
Arceuthobium abietinum is a species of dwarf mistletoe
Arceuthobium
The genus Arceuthobium, commonly called Dwarf Mistletoes, is a genus of 42 species of parasitic plants that parasitize members of Pinaceae and Cupressaceae in North America, Central America, Asia and Africa. Of the 42 species, 39 and 21 are endemic to North America and the United States, respectively...

 known as fir dwarf mistletoe. It is native to western North America from Washington to New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 to northern Mexico, where it lives in coniferous forests as a parasite
Parasitic plant
A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known. Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and connects to the xylem, phloem, or...

 on various species of fir
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...

, particularly white fir, giant fir, and red fir. This is a small shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 which is visible as a network of scaly yellowish stems extending above the bark of its host tree. Most of the mistletoe is located inside the host tree, attached to it via haustoria
Haustorium
In botany, a haustorium is the appendage or portion of a parasitic fungus or of the root of a parasitic plant that penetrates the host's tissue and draws nutrients from it. Haustoria do not penetrate the host's cell membranes.Fungi in all major divisions form haustoria...

, which tap the tree for water and nutrients. The leaves of the mistletoe are reduced to knobby scales on its surface. It is dioecious
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....

, with male and female mistletoe plants producing spikes of staminate
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...

 and pistillate
Gynoecium
Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for all carpels in a flower. A carpel is the ovule and seed producing reproductive organ in flowering plants. Carpels are derived from ovule-bearing leaves which evolved to form a closed structure containing the ovules...

 flowers, respectively. The fruit is a sticky berry a few millimeters long which explodes to disperse
Biological dispersal
Biological dispersal refers to species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness, but also for population dynamics, population...

the seeds it contains several meters away from the parent plant and its host tree.

External links

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