Mistletoes are adapted to parasitize aerial parts of their hosts, and they have a great morphological variation and wide global distribution. Their effects on hosts were more or less investigated; however, no comparative interspecific study had been reported. This study aimed to compare three locale mistletoes Phragmanthera austroarabica, Viscum schimperi, and Plicosepalus acacia based on photosynthetic activity, major-trace- and ultra-trace elements’ distribution and metabolome profiling. P. acacia exhibited the highest net photosynthetic assimilation rate (3.3-folds), water use efficiency (5.5-folds), and accumulated major elements (⁴⁴Ca, ²⁴Mg, and ²³Na). Equally, the untargeted metabolomic method showed a substantial difference in metabolome profiling, with P. acacia being the lesser accumulative of major metabolites than P. austroarabica and V. schimperi. Based on the few identified common metabolite analysis, P. acacia had the ability to avoid the accumulation of the pollutant mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate which, P. austroarabica and V. schimperi, cannot do. Equally, P. acacia had more defence metabolites against stressors than the other mistletoes. Accordingly, P. acacia displayed higher potentialities to be more vigor and more adapted to the parasitism’s life than P. austroarabica and V. schimperi.

槲寄生适合寄生在寄主的地上部分，它们的形态变异很大，全球分布广泛。人们或多或少地研究了它们对宿主的影响；然而，尚未报道种间比较研究。本研究旨在根据光合活性、主要微量和超微量元素的分布以及代谢组分析来比较三种产地槲寄生Phragmanthera austroarabica、Viscum schimperi和Plicosepalus acacia 。金合欢表现出最高的净光合同化率（3.3倍）、水分利用效率（5.5倍）和积累的主要元素（⁴⁴ Ca、²⁴ Mg和²³ Na）。同样，非靶向代谢组学方法在代谢组分析中显示出显着差异，金合欢树主要代谢物的累积量低于南阿拉伯树和V. schimperi。根据少数已确定的常见代谢物分析，金合欢树能够避免污染物邻苯二甲酸单（2-乙基己基）酯的积累，而奥南阿拉伯树和V. schimperi则无法做到这一点。同样，金合欢比其他槲寄生具有更多针对应激源的防御代谢物。因此，与P. austroarabica和V. schimperi 相比， P. acacia显示出更高的潜力，更有活力，更适应寄生生活。