圆柏寄生 yuan bai ji sheng

Viscum oxycedri Candolle in Lamarck & Candolle, Fl. Franç., ed. 3, 4: 274. 1805.

Plants yellowish green or olive green, 5-16 cm tall. Branches opposite, rarely 3-4(-6)-verticillate; internodes 10-15 mm, base of main shoots 1.5-5 mm in diam. Scale leaves ca. 1 mm. Flowers terminal on branchlets. Male flowers solitary or 2-3 together, greenish yellow, ovoid in bud, 1-1.5 mm, 2-2.5 mm in diam. at flowering; perianth lobes 3(or 4), ovate, 1-1.4 mm. Anthers circular, ca. 0.5 mm. Female flower single, axillary or terminal on branchlets, ellipsoid in bud, ca. 1 mm. Fruiting pedicel ca. 1 mm. Berry greenish, ellipsoid when young, 2-3 × 2 mm. Fl. Aug-Sep, fr. next year Sep-Oct.

Coniferous forests, scrub, mountain slopes; 3000-4100 m. Qinghai, Xizang [India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan; N Africa, SW Asia, S Europe].

The plants are parasitic on species of Juniperus, including J. tibetica and J. wallichiana.