Shrubs or herbs, perennial, chlorophyllous but parasitic on aerial parts of host plants,
attachment by a single primary haustorium, pubescent or glabrous, monoecious or dioecious;
stems usually forked, much branched, with swollen and articulated nodes; internodes terete,
often angular or flattened, often green. Leaves present or absent, opposite, single, entire,
sometimes reduced to scales; stipules absent. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, unit of
inflorescence a cyme, either solitary or sometimes aggregated to form racemose or spicate
compound inflorescences or condensed to dense clusters. Flowers minute, unisexual,
monochlamydous; perianth sepaline, petaline or vestigial, lobes 2 - 4, valvate; stamens as many
or less than the number of perianth lobes, adnate to their inner surface or free; anthers free or
sometimes cohering into synandrium, basifixed, 1- to many-loculed, opening by pores or slits,
pollen spherical; ovary inferior, unilocular, with a short placental column; ovules not distinct,
sporogenous cells located at the base of the placental column; style short, sometimes conical;
stigma simple, subsessile, capitate or nipple-shaped. Fruits fleshy, berry-like, one-seeded,
covered by a sticky layer developing in a zone internal to vascular bundles, indehiscent or
elastically or passively dehiscing.
Cosmopolitan, predominantly in tropical regions with a few species in the temperate
areas, 7 genera and about 400 species; 4 genera and 19 species in India.
Literature.
BARLOW, B. A. (1997). Viscaceae in Flora Malesiana Ser. I, 13: 403 – 442.
LUSHINGTON, A. W. (1902). Identification of Loranthaceae by their leaves. Indian Forester 28:
58 – 68. SANJAI, V. N. & N. P. BALAKRISHNAN (2001). A note on the cryptic mimicry exhibited
by Indian Viscaceae. Indian J. Forest. 24: 233 - 234. SANJAI, V. N. & N. P. BALAKRISHNAN
(2001). A note on hyper-parasitism in Indian Viscaceae. Indian J. Forest. 24: 235 - 236. SANJAI,
V. N. & N. P. BALAKRISHNAN 2006 (2007). A revision of Indian Viscaceae. Rheedea 16(2): 73
– 109
KEY TO THE GENERA
1a. Internodes flattened in one plane, leafless, up to 20 cm long; inflorescence pubescent; anthers
united into a single unit
b. Internodes flattened in different planes, terete or angular, leafy or leafless, size varies;
inflorescence glabrous; anthers not united into a single unit
2
2a. Mature plants always less than 8 cm long, leafless, and dioecious
