Colorado Desert mistletoe facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Colorado Desert mistletoe |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Colorado Desert mistletoe on host tree Platanus wrightii | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Phoradendron
|
| Species: |
macrophyllum
|
Phoradendron macrophyllum is a type of flowering plant. It is often called Colorado Desert mistletoe, bigleaf mistletoe, or Christmas mistletoe. This plant belongs to the sandalwood family.
You can find this mistletoe in the western United States and northern Mexico. It grows from Oregon down to Baja California. It also spreads east to Colorado and Texas. It lives in many types of forests and wooded areas. It can grow at high places, up to 1700 meters (about 5500 feet) above sea level.
What is Colorado Desert Mistletoe?
Colorado Desert mistletoe is a special kind of plant called a parasitic plant. This means it lives on other plants, usually trees or woody shrubs. It gets its water and some food from its host tree.
How Does It Live?
The mistletoe attaches itself to a host tree. It then takes water and nutrients from the tree. It can live on many different trees. These include alder, ash, walnut, sycamore, poplar, mesquite, and willow trees. It has been found on over 60 types of hardwood trees. However, it does not seem to grow on oak trees.
How Does It Grow?
This mistletoe grows as a shrub. It has many green branches that stand upright. These branches can grow longer than a meter (about 3 feet). Its stems have pairs of leaves growing opposite each other. Each leaf is round or oval. They are about 3 to 4 centimeters long.
Even though it takes food from a host, it is also a "hemiparasite." This means it has some chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green. It helps the mistletoe make some of its own food using sunlight, a process called photosynthesis.
Flowers and Berries
Phoradendron macrophyllum is a dioecious plant. This means there are separate male and female plants. Male plants produce male flowers, and female plants produce female flowers. These flowers grow in rough, long clusters.
After the female flowers are pollinated, they grow into small, round berries. These berries are white to light pink. Each berry is about 4 or 5 millimeters wide.
