Basin wiki · Plants
Desert mistletoe
Phoradendron californicum · mesquite mistletoe
The rusty clumps on catclaw and mesquite that feed phainopeplas through the cool months.
In the basin
A hemiparasite on native wash trees, ordinary Mojave ecology rather than a crisis. Phainopeplas eat the berries and move the sticky seeds. Clearing mistletoe off a prized nursery mesquite is a pruning choice; clearing it off every wild catclaw in a wash is removing the bird. Wikipedia and Calflora have the plant.
