Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Amyema congener (Sieber ex Schult. & Schult.f.) Tiegh. subsp. congener


Epiphyte
Mistletoe
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Flowers. © CSIRO
Flowers. © CSIRO
© CSIRO
Family

Barlow, B.A. (1966) Australian Journal of Botany 14(3): 462.

Stem

Aerial stem-parasitic shrub. Epicortical runners absent.

Leaves

Leaf blades thick and leathery, breaking along a straight line when bent back on themselves, venation not at all obvious. Leaf blades about 3-6.5 x 0.7-2 cm, petioles about 0.2-0.4 cm long.

Flowers

Flowers borne in triads, the central flower sessile, the lateral flowers pedicellate (2-3 mm) triads borne in 3-5-rayed umbels, rays about 5-8 mm long. Primary peduncles about 10-35 mm long. Calyx about 1 mm long, devoid of lobes. Corolla about 16-35 mm long, green at first but turning yellow. Anthers about 2-3 mm long, staminal filaments about 8 mm long. Disk undulate, surrounding the base of the style. Style + stigma about 20-23 mm long, stigma small, globose.

Fruit

Fruits about 10 x 7 mm, sparsely clothed in short hairs, calyx persistent at the apex. Seed about 3-7 mm long with an embryo protruding from one end. Seeds marked with 4 longitudinal white lines, immersed in a white or translucent sticky mucilage. Embryo green, about 5 mm long, embedded in sticky endosperm. Cotyledons fused at the apex. Endosperm green.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Australia. Occurs in CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as southern coastal NSW. Mostly in open eucalypt forest but sometimes found in rain forest and monsoon forest. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 200-800 m. Frequently parasitic on Casuarinaceae and Acacia.

Natural History & Notes

Food plant for the larval stage of the Imperial Jezabel, Black Jezabel, Dark Purple Azure, Satin Azure, Southern Purple Azure and Trident Pencilled-blue Butterflies. Braby, M. (2000).

Synonyms
Dendrophthoe congener (Sieber ex Schultes & J.H. Schultes) Martius, Flora 13: 110(1830). Loranthus pendulus var. congener (Sieber ex Schultes & J.H. Schultes) Domin, Biblioth. Bot. 89: 52(1921). Amyema congener (Sieber ex Schultes & J.H. Schultes) Tiegh., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 41: 507(1894). Loranthus congener Sieber ex Schultes & J.H. Schultes, Syst. Veg. 7: 114(1829), Type: New South Wales, F. Sieber 243; Iso: BM, G, K.
RFK Code
6003
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