Plant: aerial parasitic shrub; 2-25 cm high, glabrous, dioecious; SHOOTS 7-12 cm high, 2-4 mm wide at base, olive-green to brown Leaves: reduced to minute scales Inflorescence: axillary spikes Flowers: decussate (sometimes whorled), short pedicellate; staminate flowers 2.5 mm in diameter; tepals 3, with a central nectary, the perianth segments (2-)3-4(-5), each segment bearing a sessile, circular, uniloculate anther; pistillate flowers with a single style and rounded stigma, the perianth segments 2, persistent Fruit: 4 mm long, 2.5 mm wide, bicolored, dehiscing explosively (to 15 m); pedicels curved at maturity; SEED without a thickened seed coat, eaten and distributed primarily by birds or dispersed explosively Misc: Pinyon-juniper woodlands; 1400-2400 m (4600-7800 ft); Aug-Sep Notes: HOSTS: pinyon pines, mainly Pinus edulis, but also P. discolor and P. californiarum subsp. fallax REFERENCES: Hawksworth, Frank G. 1994. Viscaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 241-245.