Mistletoe Parasite?

Question

Is the mistletoe actually a parasitic plant that sucks out the juices from its tree-host? Show source if possible.

Answer 1

Yes , it is a parasite on the trees . It has scientific name Viscum.

Details are given below ---
Mistletoe is a plant parasitic on the branches of a tree or shrub.
All mistletoes are parasitic plants in the order Santalales.

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows on trees.


Mistletoe produces its own food by photosynthesis, and is able to live on its own although it is mostly found in trees.

It is common for a mistletoe plant to grow on top of another mistletoe plant.

Mistletoe is easy to spot in winter because its leaves stay green all year long. In the United States, it grows in tropical and subtropical regions .

Mistletoe has pointy, green, leathery leaves, with waxy berries that are either red or white.

The plant's flowers can be a wide variety of colors, from bright red to yellow to green.

Ingesting mistletoe can cause severe stomach cramps and diarrhea, and in some cases can be fatal.

The red and white berries that grow on mistletoe are eaten by birds that eventually leave their droppings at their favorite hang-out spot -- on a tree branch.

The droppings contain seeds that sprout roots into the tree branch.

The birds also help spread the seed by wiping their beaks on the tree bark to clean off the sticky seeds after they've eaten.

The seeds are sticky because of the juice inside the berry.

This stickiness helps the seeds stay in the tree rather than falling to the ground.

Within six weeks, the mistletoe plant begins growing, although it takes five years to flower.

The name,Mistletoe, was originally applied to Viscum album (European Mistletoe, Santalaceae; the only species native in Great Britain and much of Europe), and subsequently to other related species, including Phoradendron serotinum (the Eastern Mistletoe of eastern North America, also Santalaceae).

The European Mistletoe is readily recognized by its smooth-edged oval leaves in pairs along the woody stem, and waxy white berries in dense clusters of 2-6 together.

In America, the Eastern Mistletoe is similar, but has shorter, broader leaves and longer clusters of ten or more berries together.

The largest family of Mistletoes is Loranthaceae with 73 genera and over 900 species.

Some of these species have small, insect-pollinated flowers (as with Santalaceae), but others have spectacularly showy, large, bird-pollinated flowers.

Mistletoe biodiversity is markedly higher in subtropical and tropical climates; Australia has 85 species, of which 71 are in Loranthaceae, and 14 in Santalaceae.

The species grow on a wide range of trees, and can eventually prove fatal to them where infestation is heavy, though damage more commonly only results in growth reduction.

All mistletoes are semiparasites, bearing evergreen leaves that carry out some photosynthesis on their own, relying on the host mainly for water and the mineral nutrients it carries.


The genus Arceuthobium (dwarf mistletoe; Santalaceae) has reduced photosynthesis.

As an adult, it manufactures only a small percentage of the sugars it needs from its own photosythesis but as a seedling it actively photosynthesizes until a connection to the host is established.

Most mistletoes seeds are spread by birds (e.g. the Mistle Thrush in Europe, the Phainopepla in southwestern North America, and Dicaeum of Asia and Australia), which derive sustenance through eating the fruits (drupes).

The seeds are egested in their droppings and stick to twigs, or more commonly the bird grips the fruit in its bill, squeezes the sticky coated seed out to the side, and then wipes its bill clean on a suitable branch.
The seeds are coated with a sticky material called viscin (containing both cellulosic stands and mucopolysaccharides), which hardens and attaches the seed firmly to its future host.

The word 'mistletoe' is of uncertain etymology; it may be related to German Mist, for dung and Tang for branch, but Old English mistel was also used for basil.

While historically often considered a pest that kills trees and devalues natural habitats, mistletoe has recently become recognized as an ecological keystone, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community.

A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots as well as transferring pollen between plants and dispersing the sticky seeds.

The dense evergreen witches' brooms formed by the dwarf mistletoes (Arceuthobium) of western North America also make excellent locations for roosting and nesting of the Northern Spotted Owls and the Marbled Murrelets.


In Australia the Diamond Firetails and Painted Honeyeaters are recorded as nesting in different mistletoes.

This behavior is probably far more widespread than currently recognized; more than 240 species of birds that nest in foliage in Australia have been recorded nesting in mistletoe, representing more than 75% of the resident avifauna.

These interactions lead to dramatic influences on diversity, as areas with greater mistletoe densities support higher diversities of animals.

Thus, rather than being a pest, mistletoe can have a positive effect on biodiversity, providing high quality food and habitat for a broad range of animals in forests and woodlands worldwide.

the following links will show good photos of the plant , just click on it---
1) European mistletoe on branches of Silver birch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MistletoeInSilverBirch.jpg

2 )Mistletoe bush firmly established on Eucalyptus tree.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mistletoe_on_tree.jpg

3 ) A connection between Eucalyptus ( Host , dark brown color ) and Mistletoe ( Parasite , pale brown in photo)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Eucalyptus_mistletoe.jpg

4 ) A sticky seed of Mistletoe on a twig-----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mistletoe_seed_on_twig.jpg

Answer 2

Yes its a parasite....In New Zealand our species are reasonably rare and one of the host plants is a weed species...its been downgraded to a lesser grade of nucience as a result that a couple of mistletoe species use it as a host species!!!
Well its easy to get info on it..here is a hard minute searching the net with yahoo!!!

Answer 3

Mistletoe IS a parasite that lives on trees, however it also makes food by photosynthesis. This article has some interesting information:

http://christmas.howstuffworks.com/mistletoe1.htm

Answer 4

The mistletoe grows in the trees here, using their juices, and it also does photosynthesis. It is considered parasitic. They shoot it out of the trees by shotgun to harvest it.

Answer 5

Parasitism is a form of symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits at the expense of an organism of a different species. Fleas living on a dog or fleas that bite on human skin are examples of parasitic relationships between organisms of different species. The fleas benefit from the relationship and harm the other organisms by reducing their fitness and probability of survival...

Answer 6

Yes it is