Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition

Decaisnina brittenii (Blakely) Barlow subsp. brittenii


Mistletoe
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Flowers. © CSIRO
Flowers. © CSIRO
Fruit. © CSIRO
Fruit. © CSIRO
© CSIRO
Family

Barlow, B.A. (1966) Australian Journal Botany 14: 433.

Stem

Aerial stem-parasitic shrub. Epicortical runners present.

Leaves

Leaf blades thick and fleshy, brittle, breaking along a straight line when bent back on themselves. Leaf blades about 7-17 x 0.3-2.0 cm, petioles about 0.5-1 cm long. Venation not obvious on either the upper or lower surfaces.

Flowers

Flowers borne in triads, all flowers sessile. Triad peduncles about 2-4 mm long. Inflorescence axis about 3-5 mm long bearing 3-9 pairs of secund triads. Calyx about 0.7-1 mm long, without lobes or weakly lobed or toothed. Corolla about 18-25 mm long, mainly red except for a green section towards the apex, tips purplish or reddish brown. Petals united at the base for about 0.5-3 mm, upper part of the perianth about 10 mm long and sharply reflexed. Anthers about 2-3 mm long, staminal filaments about 2.5-5 mm long. Ovary about 3.5 mm long. Style pink towards the base, green in the upper half, about 20 mm long. Stigma small, green and terminal.

Fruit

Fruits about 11-13 x 8 mm. Seeds green, about 10 x 5-6 mm. Seeds immersed in a translucent gel. Embryo about 8-9 mm long in green endosperm. Radicle blunt, thick and swollen. Cotyledons about 4 mm long, gradually tapering to the apex. Cotyledons no wider than the hypocotyl.

Seedlings

Features not available.

Distribution and Ecology

Occurs in NT, CYP and NEQ. Altitudinal range from near sea level to 650 m. Parasitic on a range of open forest, monsoon forest and rain forest plants.

Synonyms
Amylotheca brittenii (Blakely) Danser, Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg 10: 300(1929). Loranthus brittenii Blakely, Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 47: 393(1922), Type: Queensland, Endeavour River, 1770, J. Banks & D. Solander; Iso: NSW. Loranthus signatus var. angustatus Domin, Biblioth. Bot. 89: 54(1921), Type: Queensland, Boonmoo, Feb. 1910, K. Domin s. n.: Holo: PR.
RFK Code
6018
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