mistletoe

Any of several parasitic evergreen shrubs of the genera Viscum and Phoradendron of the family Loranthaceae, especially American mistletoe P. flavescens, parasitic on broad-leaved trees, and European mistletoe V. album. They grow on trees as branched bushes, with translucent white berries, and are used as Christmas decorations. See Druidism. The seeds of the European mistletoe are dispersed by birds, but the dwarf mistletoe Arceuthobium pusillum of North America shoots its seeds at 60 mph/100 kph as far as 16 yd/15 m. Mistletoes lose water more than ten times as fast as other plants to draw nutrients to them.