370 



LORANTHACEAE 



Fig. 66. PLATANUS RACEMOSA Nutt. A, fruiting branchlet, x %; a, pistil, x 12; 6, stamen, 

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



LORANTHACEAE. MISTLETOE FAMILY. 



Evergreen plants, parasitic on trees. Branches 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. Engelmann, Geo., Papers on Loranthaceae (Collected Works, 488-495, 1887). 

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

 Observations on the Germination of Phoradendron villosum and P. calif ornicum (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. Soc. Am. 

 For. 7: 35-41, 1912). 



