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Phoradendron californicum
Desert mistletoe is an essentially leafless plant with dense clusters of brittle, jointed stems. The winter flowers are inconspicuous but strongly fragrant. Female plants produce small red berries.
Sabino Canyon is a natural desert oasis located in Tucson’s Coronado National Forest and is home to spectacular desert landscapes and abundant wildlife. During the winter and summer rainy seasons, pools of water form in rocky outcroppings that wind up among hillsides resplendent with palo verde trees, cholla and prickly pear cactus and graceful groves of ocotillo.
Mistletoe berries are the main winter food of the Phainopepla (Silky Flycatcher). The seeds are extremely sticky and are deposited on other host plants when birds wipe their bills on branches or deposit droppings. A heavy infestation of mistletoe can damage or kill the host plant, but this is uncommon. Both the Seri and O’odham eat the berries, which are sweet when growing on most legumes, and rather bitter when growing on palo verde or non-legume hosts. The Seri made a medicinal tea from the stems.
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