370 



LORANTHACEAE 



Fig. 66. Platanus racemosa Nutt. A, fruiting brancMet, x % ; a, pistil, x 12 ; 6, stamen, 

 X 12; c, staminate inflorescence, x 1; d, pistillate inflorescence, x 1. 



LORANTHACEAE. JDstletoe Family. 



Evergreen plants, parasitic ou trees. Branc-hes dichotomous. Leaves oppo- 

 site, simple and entire, or often reduced to connate scales. Flowers dioecious 

 (in ours), greenish and inconspicuous, regular, apetalous. Calyx 2 to 5-lobed. 

 Stamens as many as the calyx-lobes and inserted upon them ; anthers 1 or 2- 

 celled. Ovary inferior, 1-celled. Fruit a berry with glutinous endocarp. 

 Embryo straight, in copious endosperm. — All continents, mostly tropical, 21 

 genera and 550 species. 



Bibliog. — Engelniann, Geo., Papers on Loranthaceae (Collected "Works, 488-49.5, — 1887). 

 Cannon, W. A., Anatomy of Phoradendron villosum (Bull. Torr. Club, 28: 374-390.— 1901) ; 

 Observations on the Gennination of Phoradendron villosum and P. californicum (1. c. 31: 

 435-443, — 1904). York, H. H., Anatomy and Biological Aspects of Phoradendron flavescens 

 (Univ. Tex. Bull. 120,-1909). Bray, W. L., The Mistletoe Pest in the Southwest (Bur. PI. 

 Ind. Bull. 166,-1910). Blumer, J. C, Mistletoe in the Southwest (PI. World, 10: 240-246, 

 — 1910). Meinecke. E. P., Parasitism of Phoradendron juniperinum libocedri (Proc. Soe. Am. 

 For. 7: 35-41,-1912). 



