Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Muellerina celastroides
Common name
Coast Mistletoe, Banksia Mistletoe
Family
Loranthaceae
Where found
Forest and stream banks. Uusally parasitic on Banksia and casuarinas, and on various rainforest trees. Coastal.
Notes
Mistletoe, erect or spreading, stems to 0.7 m long, hairless except that the main stems of the inflorescence are brown-tomentose with minute hairs. Plants attached to the host by a bulbous union, external runners present. Fruit fleshy. New growth reddish. Leaves opposite each other, 2–7 cm long, 15–40 mm wide, tips rounded, venation indistinct. Flowers greenish or yellowish to red, 20–35 mm long, with 5 petals, the end third of each petal is free and sometimes turned back when the flowers are fully open. Flower clusters 1–3 pairs of 3s (triads), the central flower stalkless, the two outer flowers stalked. Flowers mainly summer. Fruit green turning pale red when ripe, pear-shaped to oval, 7–11 mm long.
Rare Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Muellerina~celastroides (accessed 24 January, 2021)
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