Plant: aerial parasitic shrub; 2-25 cm high, glabrous, dioecious. SHOOTS 3-4(-7) cm high, 1-2 mm wide at base, yellow-green, quadrangular, at least when young Leaves: reduced to minute scales INFLORESCENCE: axillary spikes Flowers: decussate (sometimes whorled), short pedicellate; staminate flowers 2.7 mm in diameter; tepals 3-4, 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: mostly 3-5 mm long, 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: Mixed conifer forests; 2000-3000 m (6500-9800 ft); Sep Notes: HOST: Pinus strobiformis REFERENCES: Hawksworth, Frank G. 1994. Viscaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 241-245.