FRUIT: white-pinkish, glabrous, 4 mm in diameter.

SHOOTS: 3-5 dm high, green, glabrous, the internodes 8-15 mm long.

LEAVES: oblanceolate to oblong, sessile, 1.5-2.5 cm long, 2-3 mm wide, glabrous.

INFLORESCENCE: staminate spikes with usually 1 fertile segment, with 6-10 flowers per segment; pistillate spikes with usually 1 fertile segment, with 2 flowers per segment.

FLOWERS: glabrous.

HOST: Cupressus arizonica.

NOTES: Arizona cypress forests: local in c AZ: Coconino, Gila, Maricopa, Yavapai cos.; 1050-1600 m (3500-5300 ft); Jun-Aug; CA, s OR; Baja C., Mex,

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

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Perennial, aerial parasitic subshrub, much-branched, herbage greenish-yellow to brown.

Leaves: Mostly less than 10 mm wide, linear-spatulate to oblong, not more than 10 mm wide, sessile or subsessile.

Flowers: Two per node, borne on pistillate spikes not more than 5 mm long, spikes 1-2 jointed, calyx of both male and females flowers 3-lobed, staminate ones 6-12 flowered, pistillate ones with 2 flowers at each node, anthers 2-celled.

Fruits: White or straw-colored globose berries.

Ecology: Found on Abies concolor, Juniperus, and Cupressus from 3,500-7,000 ft (1067-2134 m).

Notes: The keys to this species are the pistillate flowers 2 per node, the leaves linear-spatulate to oblong, less than 10 mm wide, sessile or subsessile, and the spikes of the flower not more than 5 mm long.

Ethnobotany: Uncertain, but other species in the genera have uses.

Etymology: Phoradendron is from Greek phor, a thief and dendron, tree-hence tree thief because of its parasitism, while bolleanum is of uncertain origin.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley, 2010, LCrumbacher 2011