Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Amyema villiflora (Domin) Barlow subsp. villiflora


Mistletoe
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Leaves and flowers. © CSIRO
Leaves, Flowers. © CSIRO
Fruit [not vouchered]. CC-BY J.L. Dowe
© CSIRO
Family

Barlow, B.A. (1966) Australian Journal Botany 14: 485.

Stem

Aerial stem-parasitic shrub. Epicortical runners absent. Twigs quite brittle.

Leaves

Leaf blades sometimes pink to reddish on the upper surface. Leaf blades thick and fleshy, brittle, breaking along a straight line when bent back on themselves. Leaf blades about 3.5-8 x 1-4 cm, petioles about 0.7-1.2 cm long. Venation not obvious on either surface.

Flowers

Flowers borne in triads, the central flower +/- sessile, the lateral flowers shortly pedicellate. Triads in 2-rayed umbels. Rays of umbels about 4 mm long. Primary peduncle about 15 mm long. Calyx and corolla clothed in stellate scales or hairs. Calyx about 1 mm long, entire or 5-lobed. Corolla about 18-25 mm long. Anthers about 1.5-2 mm long, staminal filaments about 5-10 mm long. Ovary about ???? mm long. Style about 18-27 mm long. Stigma globular.

Fruit

Fruits about 8 x 5 mm or globular abd about 6 mm diam. Calyx remnants persistent at the apex. Seeds +/- globular, about 3-4 mm diam., immersed in a sticky gelatinous layer. Embryo green, about 2.5-3 mm long, embedded in pale green endosperm. Cotyledons about 1.5 mm long, not fused to one another.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Endemic to Australia. Occurs in WA, NT, CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 500 m. Parasitic on monsoon forest and rain forest plants particularly species of Terminalia.

Synonyms
Loranthus quandang var. villiflorus Domin, Biblioth. Bot. 89: 33(1921), Type: Queensland, Russell River, Jan. 1910, K. Domin s. n.; Holo: PR.
RFK Code
6013
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