Shrubby plants parasitic on trees, with thick, opposite, exstipulate leaves. Flowers mostly declinous, an adherent calyx of 4 to 8 lobes, with stamens of the same number, opposite the calyx lobes. Ovary 1-cclled, becoming a fleshy fruit with one albuminous seed. Fig. 37, D.

Genera 25, species 400, mostly tropical in America and Asia, a few flourishing northward as far as our latitude. They possess the remarkable property of planting themselves on trees and subsisting on their juices. They are slightly astringent. Bird-lime is formed in part from the viscid pulp of the fruit of the Mistletoe.

PHORODEN'DRON, Nutt. Mistletoe. (Gr. a thief, a tree; they live on stolen food.) Dioecious; calyx 2 to 4 (mostly 3)-lobed, lobes erect; anther sessile on the base of each lobe, 2-celled, the cells divergent; calyx adherent to the ovary; stigmas sessile; stamens 0; fruit a pulpy berry. - Herbage fleshy, yellowish green. Sts. jointed, brittle, woody, firmly engrafted on the limbs of trees, especially Oaks, Elms, Apples, etc. Fls. imbedded in the jointed racbia.

P. fiavescens Nutt. Branches opposite, sometimes verticillate, terete; lvs. cu-neate-obovate, 3-veined, obtuse; spikes axillary, solitary, about as long as the leaves; berries white, semi-transparent. - N. J. to Ill. (Lapham), and the S. States. Stems 1 - 14, high, rather thick, much branched. Leaves 9 - 16" by 4 - 9", smooth and entire, on short petioles. Fls. small, sterile ones mostly 3-parted. Berry with a viscous pulp adhering to the limb it touches until it strikes root. April.