Abstract

Mistletoes popularly known as Loranthus are serious problems on forest trees in India. Dendrophthoe falcata is the most common and harmful parasite attacking a large number of trees. This paper describes, the common mistletoes in India besides D. falcata, their flowering and seed dispersal. Infection process and host pathogen relationship, physiology of disease response in hosts, host recognition and specificity and estimation and management of loss in forest plantations