Jim Worrall and Brian Geils. 2006. Dwarf mistletoes. The Plant Health Instructor. DOI: 10.1094/PHI-I-2006-1117-01

DISEASE:  Dwarf mistletoes

PATHOGEN:  Arceuthobium species

HOSTS: Many gymnosperms (conifers)

Authors
Jim Worrall, USDA Forest Service, Gunnison, CO
Brian Geils, USDA Forest Service, Flagstaff, AZ

Dwarf mistletoes cause the most serious and economically important diseases of conifers in many forests of western North America, but they also occur in Europe, Asia and northern Africa. They are related to the more familiar but less damaging leafy, or true, mistletoes in the genera Phoradendron and Viscum, which parasitize primarily angiosperms as well as a few gymnosperms.


Southwestern dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium vaginatum subsp. cryptopodum) with bicolored, mature fruits on fine, bent pedicels that attach fruits to shoots. [courtesy D. Conklin]

This lesson is in the public domain and not copyrightable.
It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source.
The American Phytopathological Society, 2006.