Korea Flora: Evergreen shrub parasitic on oak, hackberry, alder, chestnut, and birch trees. Grows in a round, nest-like shape with a diameter of 1m. Winter buds and branchlets: Branches divide dichotomously, round, yellowish-green, glabrous, with internodes 3-6cm long. Leaves opposite, lanceolate, 3-6cm × 0.6-1.2cm, apex obtuse, base rounded, gradually narrowing towards the base, sessile, dark green, thick, and without luster. Flowers dioecious, terminal. Sessile, yellow. Bracteoles cup-shaped, perianth bell-shaped and 4-lobed, stigma sessile. Fruit and seeds: Round, light yellow, 6mm in diameter, with persistent perianth and stigma at the apex.

Sporophyte chromosome number: 20.

Flowering: Late April

Fruiting: Late August to late October

Distribution: Northern to southern China, northeastern regions, throughout Japan; South of Pyonganbukdo and Hamgyongnamdo in Korea.

Japan Flora: Tufted, glabrous, green, parasitic shrub, the branches 30-60 cm. long, dichotomously or trichot- omously branched, terete, rather thick, jointed at nodes; leaves thick, dull, opposite, oblanceolate, 3-6 cm. long, 6^12 mm. wide, 3- to 5-nerved, rounded to obtuse, deep green on both sides, sessile; flowers terminal on the branch lets, sessile, small, yellow, the bracteoles cup-shaped, the perianth campanulate, 3-lobed; stigma sessile; fruit globose, pale yellow, semitrans- lucent, about 6 mm. across, the perianth lobes and style per­sistent. Feb.-Mar. Parasitic on deciduous trees; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common. China, Korea, and Manchuria.  A variable widely distributed species from w. Europe to nw. Asia.

f. rubroaurantiacum (Makino) Ohwi. A rare phase with orange-red fruit.