MISTLETOE FAMILY. 535 



About 21 genera and 500 species, widely distributed; most abundant in tropical regions. 

 I,e;ives scale-like, united at the base; anthers i-celled; berry peduncled. i f\.r.unn>/ikya. 



Leaves thick, flat; anthers 2-celled; berry sessile. 2. / 



j. RAZOUMOFSKYA Hoffm. Hort. Mos|. 1808. 



[ARCEUTHOBIUM Bicb. Fl. Taur. 3: 629. 1819.] 



Small or minute fleshy glabrous plants, parasitic on the branches of coniferous trees, 

 their branches 4-angled, and leaves reduced to opposite connate scales. Flowers dioecious, 

 not bractcd, solitary or several together in the axils of the scales. Staminate flowers with a 

 2-5-parted calyx and usually an equal number of stamens, the anthers sessile on the seg- 

 ments. Pistillate flowers with the ovary adnatc to the tube of the calyx, the calyx-limb 2- 

 parted. Disk present in both kinds of flowers. Berry fleshy, ovoid, more or less flattened, 

 borne on a short somewhat recurved peduncle. Embryo enclosed in the copious endosperm. 

 [In honor of Alexis Razoumofski, Russian botanist.] 



About 10 species. Besides the following, 7 or S others occur in western North America and 

 Mexico, 2 in Kurope and Asia. 



i. Razoumofskya pusilla (Peck) Kuntze. 

 Small Mistletoe. (Fig. 1271.) 



Arceulhobium pnsillum Peck, Rep. N. Y. State Mus. 



25: 69. 1873. 

 iirceuthobium minufutu Engelm. Bull. Torr. Club, 2: 



43. Without description. 1871. 

 Razoumofskya pusilla Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 587. 1891. 



Plant inconspicuous, stems 2 // -io // long, nearly te- 

 rete when fresh, somewhat 4-angled when dry, sim- 

 ple or sparingly branched, greenish-brown, slender. 

 Scales suborbicular, appressed, obtuse, about l /2 /f 

 wide, connate at the base; flowers strictly dioecious 

 (the staminate and pistillate plants sometimes on dif- 

 ferent trees), solitary in most of the axils, longer 

 than the scales; berry ovoid-oblong, acute, about i" 

 long, nodding on a slightly exserted peduncle; seeds 

 enclosed in a viscid mucus. 



On twigs of spruces, New Hampshire, northern New 

 York and the Pocono region of Pennsylvania. June. 



2. PHORADENDRON Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. (II.) i: 185. 1847-50. 



Shrubs, parasitic on trees, with opposite coriaceous flat entire or undulate faintly nerved 

 leaves, terete usually jointed and brittle twigs, and dioecious axillary spicate bracted small 

 flowers, solitary or several in the axil of each bract. Staminate flowers with a 3-lobed (rarely 

 2-4-lobed) globose or ovoid calyx, bearing a sessile transversely 2-celled anther at the base of 

 each lobe. Pistillate flowers with a similar calyx adnate to the ovoid inferior ovary. 

 short, obtuse or capitate. Fruit a sessile ovoid or globose fleshy berry. Endosperm copious. 

 [Greek, tree-thief, from its parasitic habit.] 



About 80 species, all American. Besides the following, 5 or 6 others occur in the Western States. 



i. Phoradendron flavescens (Pursht 

 Xtitt. American Mistletoe, i Ki.w r - ' 



1'iscn m flaresecns Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept nj 

 Phoradendron flavescens Nutt.; A \\.\-A 



2, 383- '856. 



A branching glabrous or slightly pubescent 

 shrub, the twigs rather stout, terete, brittle at 

 the base. Leaves oblong or obovate, rounded 

 at the apex, narrowed into short petioles, 3-5- 

 nerved, entire, i / -2 / long, 5"-'<>" dc < dark 

 green, coriaceous; petioles i"-4" long; spikes 

 solitary, or 2 or 3 together in the axils, linear, 

 shorter than the leaves; berry globose, white, 

 about 2" in diameter 



Parasitic on deciduous leaved trees, notably on 

 the Tupelo and Red Maple, central New Jersey to 

 Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, south to Florida and 

 Texas. May-July. 



