Apache dwarf mistletoe Apache dwarf mistletoe

Arceuthobium apachecum Hawksworth & Wiens, Brittonia 22: 266. 1970

Plants forming witches' brooms. Stems yellow, green, or red, 3.5(–9) cm; third internode 5–7.2(–10) × 1–1.5(–2) mm, dominant shoot 1–2 mm diam. at base. Staminate flowers 2.7 mm diam.; petals 3–4(–5). Fruits 4 × 2.5 mm.

Flowering Jul–Sep; fruiting Aug–Oct. Coniferous forests with southwestern white pine; 2000–3000 m; Ariz., N.Mex.; Mexico (Chihuahua).

Meiosis occurs in July, with fruits maturing 13 months after pollination.

Subspecies apachecum is known only from a portion of the range of its only host tree, Pinus strobiformis. Subspecies blumeri also utilizes this host, but the two taxa are not sympatric.