Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Aerial, parasitic shrubs, perennials, stems and shoots grayish-green, erect to spreading, shoots to 1 m or more high, surfaces densely short-hairy, especially when young, becoming glabrous with age, internodes 15-38 mm long, stems jointed and brittle when dry.

Leaves: Opposite, obovate to elliptic, 15-47 mm long and 10-25 mm wide, grayish-green with dull surfaces, very densely short-hairy, petioled or not.

Flowers: Small and inconspicuous, green or yellowish, infloresences staminate and pistillate; staminate spikes with 2-4 fertile internodes (segments), with 20-30 flowers per segment; pistillate spikes with 2-3 fertile segments, with 10-15 flowers per segment.

Fruits: White to pink-tinged, globose berries, becoming short-hairy near the tips, sessile. Seeds solitary.

Ecology: Parasitic, generally found on Quercus, in oak woodlands, rarely also found on Adenostoma, Arctostaphylos, Rhus, and Umbellularia, from 200-7,000 ft (61-2134 m); flowering July-September.

Distribution: California, north to Oregon, south to Texas and Mexico.

Notes: Look to the densely short-hairy (villous) leaves and young stems to help identify this species. USDA Plants has this species occurring only in Oregon and California. Look for this species in Kearney and Peebles under Phoradendron flavescens var. villosum. Also look for it under the basionym Viscum tomentosum or Phoradendron flavens var. tomentosum.

Ethnobotany: Infusion of plant taken first two months of pregnancy to cause an abortion, and taken to bring on delayed menstruation, also used as a wash on limbs affected by rheumatism.

Synonyms: Phoradendron flavescens var. villosum

Editor: LCrumbacher2012

Etymology: Phoradendron comes from the Greek phor, "a thief," and dendron, "tree," hence "tree thief" because it draws nourishment from its host tree, and villosum means hairy.