There comes a time in the history of nearly every genus when it becomes almost immoral to add new species without first having surveyed the genus as a whole. Dendrophthora has reached this state. From the time of its first recognition as a separate entity to the present, new species have been described, often on very tenuous grounds, and usually without an indication of infrageneric relationships, until today we are faced with a staggering mass of specific epithets in complete chaos. The genus has not been comprehensively studied for more than half a century, and no balanced attempt has as yet been made to establish natural divisions within. Having become interested in the morphology of this and the related genus Phoradendron (Kuijt, 1959), I was naturally led on to some taxonomic considerations. My stay in Europe in 1958-1959 enabled me to visit the major European herbaria, and the notes and sketches accumulated there soon pointed the way to the present work.