Viscum album
Common name
Mistletoe, European mistletoe
Family
Santalaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Conservation status
Not applicable
Brief description
Hemi-parasitic evergreen shrub, a metre or more in diameter and a range of host trees and shrubs (see note below). Dioecious. Flowers inconspicuous, green. Fruit a white berry.
Distribution
It was present locally in the Wairarapa in the vicinity of Masterton & Greytown, but seems to have died out in the early 1970s. (Tom Moss, pers. comm. in 1980s)
Habitat
Barney, C. W., Hawksworth, F. G. and Geils, B. W. (1998) “identified hosts among 452 species, subspecies, varieties, and hybrids in 96 genera of 44 families. Rosaceae has the most hosts with 128 taxa parasitized. Commonly infested genera include Salix, Populus, Acer, Malus, Crataegus, Prunus, Sorbus, Abies, and Pinus.”
Flower colours
Green, Yellow
Etymology
album: From the Latin albus ‘white’