Buckleya distichophylla

Buckleya is an unusual-looking parasitic shrub; its pale green leaves in a flat plane, green twigs, small pale green flowers, and its characteristic habitat make it very distinctive. It may grow to 3.5 m tall, with separate male and female plants (dioecious). Branches leafy, green, appearing as large compound leaves with opposite or subopposite leaflets. Leaves deciduous, pale green, entire, lance-shaped, larger upwards. Flowers small (2.5 mm x 1.5 mm) green, 4-parted, on the ends of lateral branches, appearing in April-May. Fruit fleshy, 1-seeded, short- stalked, ellipsoid; green at first, gradually turning yellow- orange, about 2.5 cm x 1.2 cm, with four leafy bracts at the tip, ripening from August to September. It is often associated with Hemlock (Tsuga), one of its host plants.

A distinctive shrub, pale green in appearance. The leaves are noticeably distichous (in two vertical rows) and the stems are slightly green (Mobray 1985). It differs from other members of Santalaceae family from having opposite leaves and terminal inflorescences/flowers (Gleason and Cronquist 1991).

Buckleya distichophylla occurs in mountain woods at lower elevations (450-1100 m) within a variety of habitats including Virginia pine and white pine and acidic mixed-oak forests. The plants can be found scattered among host trees within openings of hemlock forests, but habitats also include south-facing slopes and chestnut oak forests (Mobray 1985). Many of the known occurrences contain a dense understory of Rhododendron maximum. Although some of the current element occurrences are found within heavily shaded areas, Mobray (1985) notes that the most robust plants occur in areas with more sunlight and "the other very predictable physical feature of its habitat is a shallow, rocky soil. . ." Botanical guides list the habitat as mountain forests or rich woods (Gleason and Cronquist 1991; Wofford and Chester 2002). It was thought that B. distichophylla was host specific to hemlocks, but subsequent investigations have shown otherwise (Mussleman and Mann 1979).

Host plants include Tsuga canadensis and Pinus pungens (Leahy 2006).

The species spreads through rhizomes (FNA 2016).