Plant: aerial parasitic shrub; 2-25 cm high, glabrous, dioecious; SHOOTS 10-15(-25) cm high, 3-8 mm wide at base, greenish-yellow to dark brown;

Leaves: reduced to minute scales

INFLORESCENCE: axillary spikes

Flowers: decussate (sometimes whorled), short pedicellate; STAMINATE FLOWERS 3-3.5 mm long, 2-4 mm in diameter, the tepals 3 with a central nectary, the perianth segments (2-)3-4(-5), each segment bearing a sessile, circular, uniloculate anther; PISTILLATE FLOWERS ca. 1.5 mm long with a single style and rounded stigma, the perianth segments 2, persistent

Fruit: whitish-blue, glaucous on base, 4-5 mm long, 2-3 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: Chihuahua pine woodlands; 1700-2450 m (550-8000 ft); Mar-Apr

Notes: HOST: Pinus leiophylla var. chihuahuana

REFERENCES: Hawksworth, Frank G. 1994. Viscaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 241-245.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Parasitic perennials growing only on conifers, without chlorophyll, stems jointed, brittle when dry.

Leaves: Opposite, reduced to connate scales.

Flowers: Small, perianth calyx-like, with 2-4 lobes or teeth, stamens inserted on the perianth, anthers sessile, flowers borne solitary to several in the axils of the scales.

Fruits: Berry with a single seed.

Ecology: Found from - ft (-m); flowering

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011

Etymology: Arceuthobium comes from the Greek arkeuthos, "juniper," and bios, "life," presumably because of its resemblance to the juniper and not because it has juniper for a host, while the meaning of gillii is unknown.