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Viscum capense, Cape mistletoe, is a hemiparasitic shrub native to South Africa that grows on the branches of host trees rather than in soil. It is grown in its native range and is not a typical garden or houseplant, so the key to working with it is the host tree.
Viscum capense (common name, Cape mistletoe) is a species of Mistletoe that is indigenous to South Africa, especially the area from Cape Town, northwards along the coast up to Namibia, and eastwards as far as the Eastern Cape province.
This parasitic plant has jointed stems, vestigial leaves in the form of small scales around the stem nodes, and tiny yellowish-green flowers that produce translucent pale berries. The fruit is dispersed by birds. The plant is poisonous but is nonetheless used in traditional African medicine, the plant being boiled to make a tea that is used to soothe asthma. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Viscum capense by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
