While some hoi polloi find mistletoe the perfect Christmas decoration , desert willow ( genus Chilopsis linearis ) detect mistletoe a parasitic plant life that it must tolerate . The mintage name , Phorodendron , can be translated to mean " tree thief , " which accurately describes how mistletoe steals nutrients and piss from its host industrial plant . Mistletoe may harm the desert willow tree , but it also provides a valuable food resource for birds and wildlife who call the desert base .

Description

Mistletoe rise as a seed plant that baffle most , if not all , of its nutrient from the server plant . The works can also mature as a semi - parasitic plant that uses photosynthesis on its own while taking water and mineral from the emcee . Two mistletoe species originate in the Southwest desert , include P. californicum , a industrial plant with minor , narrow leaves . The other species include P. tementosum var . macrophyllum , a plant skylark all-inclusive , thick leaves that come out opposite each other on the stem . Both plants produce flowers without flower petal and large numbers of inconspicuous seeds .

How and Where Mistletoe Grows

Desert mistletoe occurs in the desert of southern Nevada and California all the style south to the central part of Baja California and the southern Sonora in Mexico . Once a mistletoe seed germinates inside the youthful , thin barque of a desert willow tree diagram , rootage - like growths jump to grow in between the host flora ’s cells . The mistletoe sucks up water and nutrients from the willow tree tree , continuing to raise until its stems and leaves start covering the limb of the host plant .

Estimating the Age of Mistletoe

One of the oldest reported living mistletoe reached 419 old age of age . To tell the geezerhood of a mistletoe , scientist count the tree diagram rings from the region where the first root - similar ontogenesis , called haustoria , come out in the host tree ’s bark . Mistletoe works often gain 60 years of age and older .

Wildlife’s Role

A smorgasbord of birds bank on the berries and seeded player of mistletoe , including the minuscule silky flycatcher , also have it away as the Phainopepla . The stick seeds are coated with a gel - alike material that helps the seeds stick to boo beak and fauna fundament . After the birds wipe out the highly sticky seeds , a few seeds stick to their bills . When the razzing wing to the desert willow tree or other Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in the area , they wipe their bill on the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . These seeds then form raw roots in the willow ’s young barque . Sometimes boo droppings also contain the seminal fluid , which serve them spread and grow .

Removing Mistletoe

Removing Loranthus europaeus from a desert willow tree remains difficult . Some gardeners try destroying the stems of the industrial plant , but the roots of the mistletoe continue to grow raw stems . Removing subdivision of the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree that are intertwine with mistletoe is another option , but it often break the look of the tree while possibly producing other problems due to the heavy pruning . Removing the quarry plant in a cultivate garden or landscape painting and keep in line the rootage of the seed offer the most effective ways of move out mistletoe permanently .

References

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