Viscum minimum

Viscum minimum
Viscum minimum leaf scales and flowers emerging from the host plant.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Core eudicots
Order:	Santalales
Family:	Santalaceae (Viscaceae)
Genus:	Viscum
Species:	minimum
Binomial name
Viscum minimum Harv.

Viscum album is a species of mistletoe in the family Santalaceae. It is a parasitic plant native to South Africa.

Description

In its native habitat V. album uses two species of succulents, Euphorbia polygona and Euphorbia horrida, as host plants. However, given the opportunity, the plant uses a range of succulents, including cacti, as hosts.

A mature V. album consists mostly of haustoria within the host plant, but a small stems of less than one millimeter in length with a single whorl of 2-3 scale-like leaves. A single flower, and later a red round fruit with a diameter of 8-9 millimeters, emerges from these stems. The leaves and stems are capable of photosynthesis, making the plant technically a hemiparasite.

Seed germination

• 
  Day 1: The sticky seed has landed on the host plant, in this case a cactus.
• 
  Day 4: Germination has commenced.
• 
  Day 10: The shoot emerges from the seed.
• 
  Day 23: The shoot has made contact with the host plant.
• 
  Day 30: The primary haustorium has developed.

Literature

• William Henry Harvey: Flora Capensis 2: 581
• Robert Allen Dyer: Two Rare Parasites on Succulent Species of Euphorbia, Euphorbia Review Vol. I (4): 29-32, 1935
• Thomas Goebel: Viscum minimum Harvey in der Sukkulentensammlung der Stadt Zürich, Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten 29 (1), 1978
• Frank K. Horwood: Two parasites of Euphorbia: Viscum minimum and Hydnora africana, The Euphorbia Journal, Vol 1: 45-48, 1983