Our oak mistletoe is Phoradendron villosum , found from California, Arizona, to West Texas. Seeds mature in the winter. Various extracts from mistletoe are being investigated for treating cancer in humans, including ovarian cancer, lymphoma, and others. However, our mistletoe is very poisonous and should not be eaten or even nibbled. Mistletoe fruits are attractive to wintering birds in the Santa Lucias.
Birds can digest most of the outer white shell of the flower and some of the sticky, clear liquid.
When a bird ingests the seed, the tough outer membrane stays intact. It takes many years for the mistletoe to grow large enough to produce flowers and seeds. Mistletoe can grow into very large, heavy clumps. Certainly it makes some branches more likely to be broken in winter storms, just due to the increased weight load. In Spain, trees grew at about the same rate with and without mistletoe.