Mistletoe On Oak by photosynthesis
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Description
Mistletoe growing in an old oak tree. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows in trees. It can become a problem if it spreads too much. Here's some information about mistletoe from www.weekendgardener.net:
"Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that can affect the growth and vigor of its host and expose trees to attacks by diseases and insects. It has leaves to produce its own food, but steals water and nutrients from its host. In some instances, mistletoe can cause branches to die back, and heavy, shrubby mistletoes can break entire limbs. In other situations, mistletoe is simply a cosmetic problem which only affects the appearance of the tree.
Mistletoe spreads slowly and it takes many infections and years to kill a tree, however they do draw a lot of water from their hosts and can seriously desiccate the host during a drought unless you water adequately at these times. One or a few infections on a vigorous tree will cause no harm, although the portion of a branch beyond infections may be stunted or die. Numerous infections can cause significant stress, leading to premature death either directly or indirectly through secondary disease or insect infestations."
Comments (10)
Rob2753
That's a big bunch of mistletoe, just in time for the season too :)
jayfar
Several different things I didn't know about mistletoe!
UVDan
Nice shot! We have lots of Palo Verde trees here that are hosts for Mistletoe.
Faemike55
Great capture and cool information Thanks for sharing
pimanjc
Thanks for the info.
MrsRatbag
Great shot of this parasite; looks ready for harvesting!
mtdana
Never seen should a large cluster!
sossy
interesting autumn capture! cool parasitic plants in dark green between the brown and golden leafs! ;o)
sharky_
Beautiful leaves. Aloha
auntietk
How interesting! I would say I'd never seen it growing before, but I read Dan's comment about the palo verde trees, and realized I just might have seen a bunch of it a couple days ago! We're in Tucson right now, where palo verde trees run riot, and I saw something that looked like this from across the street. Now I think I need to go back and take a closer look!