Mistletoe is a yellowish evergreen bush about 2-3 feet in size with oblong, leathery leaves. The leaves are about 2 inches long and are arranged in pairs, each opposite the other on the branch. Mistletoes contain chlorophyll and can make some of their own food. They produce flowers in compact spikes that are bisexual, asexual, or regular. The flowers are more yellow than the leaves and appear in the late winter and soon give rise to one-seeded white berries, which when ripe are filled with a sticky pulp.
Most mistletoe berries contain toxic compounds poisonous to animals and to humans.
Fruit-eating birds distribute mistletoe seeds in their droppings or by wiping their beaks, to which the seeds often adhere, against the bark of a tree. The sticky seeds of a dwarf mistletoe, however, are shot with an explosive force from the fruit for horizontal distances ranging from 5 to more than 18 meters. Once seeds adhere to a branch, they germinate on young bark and penetrate into the host tree's vascular system. Seedlings and young trees may be stunted, deformed, or killed. Dwarf mistletoes frequently escape detection because the scaly-leaved plants may be less than 2.5 centimeters long.