_Mistletoe Family_
Parasitic herbs growing on woody plants and absorbing their food from
the host plant through specialised roots; leaves opposite, frequently
reduced to scales; flowers diœcious or monœcious, regular; in terminal
or axillary clusters.
[Sidenote: =Razoumofskya americana= (Nutt.) Kuntze. _Dwarf Mistletoe._]
Greenish-yellow or brownish, smooth, fleshy; stems rather slender,
numerous, and tufted, forked or branched into 4-angled jointed
branches. Leaves reduced to opposite scales at the joints. Flowers
very small, the staminate and pistillate on separate plants; staminate
plants 2—4 inches long, with the flowers on terminal peduncle-like
joints; pistillate plants much smaller and darker coloured; berries
ovate, purplish-brown, ⅙ of an inch long.
Throughout the Rockies, parasitic on Pinus Murrayana; locally abundant,
appearing in midsummer.