A sticky substance on the seeds helps them attach to any tree they land on until they germinate and begin to grow. Seeds of some species can also be shot out of the fruit like a cannonball at up to 60 mph (100 kph) to a distance as far as 50 feet (15 meters). Birds widely distribute the seeds after eating the berries. The females produce the fruits, called berries, which are generally white, but can be pink or reddish depending on the species. Mistletoes are what botanists call dioecious, meaning these plants have separate male and female versions. These invading structures can live for many years inside a tree even if the mistletoe plant itself is removed. But American mistletoe also sucks water and other nutrients out of its host plant by sending rootlike structures called haustoria into the vascular tissue just under the bark of branches and twigs.
It has green leaves and is capable of photosynthesis and so produces much of its own food. The American mistletoe, the one used at Christmas in the U.S., is in the genus Phoradendron, which means “ thief of the tree” in Greek. Mistletoe is the Oklahoma Floral Emblem with the Indian Blanket being the state wildflower, and the state flower is the Oklahoma tea rose. Sixteen species of the leafless dwarf mistletoe infect only trees in the pine family and are mostly found along the West Coast. Twelve species of the American mistletoe can be found distributed largely across the southern half of the U.S., mostly affecting deciduous trees in the East as well as some evergreens in the West. Just two types are native to North America. Rather than being rooted in the ground, they live on the branches of other trees and shrubs. They’re all parasitic or semiparasitic, meaning they can survive only on a host plant. There are some 1,300 species of this evergreen plant worldwide. But, botanically speaking, that’s what mistletoe is.
( The Conversation) – A parasitic plant with potentially poisonous berries might not sound like something that would boost your Christmas decorations to the next level.
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