It wasn’t until the sixteenth century that botanists discovered that mistletoe was actually spread by seeds which had passed through the digestive tract of birds after they ate the berries. Mistletoe’s common name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words for ‘dung’ (mistel) and ‘twig’ (tan) because of the ancient belief that mistletoe was propagated from bird droppings because plants would often appear on a branch or twig where birds had left droppings. Numerous infections, however, may cause significant stress, leading to premature death either directly or indirectly through secondary disease or insect infestations. 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. Even though they are obligatory parasites (they can remain alive and reproduce only on a living host), individual plants do not seem to be much of a nutritional drain on their host. These hemiparasites contain chlorophyll, so they only derive part of their nourishment from their host. There are both full parasites like dwarf mistletoes ( Arceuthobium spp.) and hemiparasites, or partial parasites, like the mistletoes used for holiday decoration. These perennial flowering plants have specialized roots that are able to penetrate the host plant from which it derives water and nutrients. Mistletoes are a large group of plants that are parasitic on aboveground parts of woody trees and shrubs. Mistletoes are parasitic plants that infect aboveground parts of woody plants.
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