Parasitic shrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate, simple and entire, coriaceous, sometimes reduced to scales or wanting; stipules absent. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite or unisexual, axillary or terminal, solitary or in racemes or spikes or fascicles, usually with a bract on each pedicel and 2 bracteoles below each flower. Perianth double, outer adnate to the ovary, limb short or barely evident, truncate or 4–6-toothed; inner 3–6-lobed, lobes free or united into a tube, valvate. Stamens as many as the divisions of the perianth, usually inserted on them; filaments short or long; anthers introrse, 2-celled. Ovary inferior, 1-celled; style short or long; stigma simple; ovule solitary, erect, adnate to the walls of the ovary. Fruit a 1-seeded berry or drupe, pericarp usually viscid. Seed generally albuminous; embryo straight, axile, radicle superior.

An order comprising 13 genera and about 500 species, chiefly found in the tropical or warm regions of both hemispheres, with comparatively few species in the temperate zones. The order has no important properties or economic value, and the common mistletoe is the only species of any repute. Of the 3 New Zealand genera, Tupeia is endemic; the remaining two are widely distributed in both temperate and tropical climates.

Leafy. Flowers hermaphrodite. Perianth double. Anthers opening lengthwise	1. Loranthus.
Leafy. Flowers diœcious. Perianth single. Anthers on slender filaments, opening lengthwise	2. Tupeia.
The New Zealand species leafless. Flowers diœcious. Perianth single Anthers sessile, opening by several pores	3. Viscum.