Amyema bifurcata (Benth.) Tiegh.

Loranthaceae

Tieghem, P.E.L. van (1894) Bull. Soc. Bot. France 41: 507.

Aerial stem-parasitic shrub. Plants pendulous, epicortical runners absent.

Leaf blades linear, lanceolate, sometimes falcate, often sub-opposite, about 11-15.5 x 1-2 cm, petioles about 1-2.5 cm long. Venation longitudinal, parallel and 3-5-veined.

Flowers borne in dyads or triads, flowers +/- sessile, triads in 2 or 3-rayed umbels. Umbel rays about 10-15 mm long. Primary peduncle slender, about 15-40 mm long. Pedicels about 3-7 mm long, clothed in rusty tomentum. Calyx about 0.7 mm long, devoid of any obvious lobes. Corolla about 22-30 mm long, ovary about 3-5 mm long. Calyx and corolla clothed in rusty brown tomentum. Anthers about 3.5-4 mm long, staminal filaments about 1-5 mm long attached to the upper half of the corolla. Style 25-30 mm long, stigma terminal, globular.

Fruit cream to orange when ripe, globose to obpyriform, about 9-10 x 9 mm, sparsely clothed in rusty scales. Seeds about 7 x 5 mm, radicle green, slightly protruding. Embryo green, about 5-6 mm long. Cotyledons about 3 mm long. Radicle 2-3 mm long, tuberculate.

Features not available.

Endemic to Australia. Occurs in WA, NT, CYP, NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as central NSW. Usually in eucalypt forest but sometimes found in rain forest. Altitudinal range in northern Australia from near sea level to 800 m.

Food plant for the larval stage of the Scarlet Jezabel, Silky Jewel, Silky Azure, Satin Azure, Orange-tipped Azure, Southern Purple Azure and Northern Purple Azure Butterflies. Braby , M. (2000).

Loranthus bifurcatus Benth., Flora Australiensis 3: 393(1867), Type: North Is., Sir Edward Pellew Group & Groote Is., 17 - 25 Dec. 1802 & 15 Jan. 1803, R. Brown s.n.; Syn: BM, CANB, MEL.