Template:Species-2022-09

Species of the month

Oak Mistletoe

Phoradendron leucarpum (Raf.) Reveal & M.C.Johnst. Taxon 38: 107 (1989).

Some facts about this plant:

Distribution: It is native to the United States and Mexico.
Protection status: Not evaluated.
Etymology: The Greek generic name Phoradendron means "carried upon the tree" and leucarpum refers to their white fruit.

Oak Mistletoe is a hemiparasitic plant with leathery and thick, opposite leaves. While it can photosynthesize like a normal plant, it has no true ground roots. Instead, like other mistletoes it attaches itself to the branches of trees and relies on tube-like hypocotyledonous stems (hypocotyls) to take water and mineral nutrients from the host. Over 60 species of trees are hosts to Phoradendron leucarpum, especially trees in the genera of Acer (maples), Fraxinus (ash), Juglans (walnuts), Nyssa (pepperidge trees), Platanus (plane trees), Populus, (poplars) Quercus (oaks), Salix (willows), and Ulmus (elms).

This species is used in North America as a surrogate for the similar European mistletoe (Viscum album), in Christmas decoration and associated traditions (such as "kissing under the mistletoe"), as well as in rituals by modern druids. It is commercially harvested and sold for those purposes. The sticky substance covering the fruits is toxic to humans, but eaten by some butterflies and birds like for example Silky-flycatchers (Ptiliogonatidae) and Mockingbirds (Mimus and Melanotis).