''Muellerina bidwillii'', common name Cypress-pine mistletoe, is a

hemiparasitic A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All parasitic plants develop a specialized organ called the ...

arial shrub in the family

Loranthaceae Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are ''Nuytsia floribunda'' (the W ...

. The species is endemic to New South Wales and Queensland.

Description

''M. bidwillii'' is an erect to spreading plant, the branches and leaves of which are smooth (or having a few scattered hairs on the inflorescence axes). The leaves are linear to oblanceolate and rounded at the tip. The leaf blade is from 1.5 to 3 cm long and 1.5 to 3 mm wide, with obscure venation and an obscure petiole. The inflorescence a 2-flowered simple umbel on a peduncle which is from 3 to 6 mm long. The corolla in the mature bud is 20–27 mm long, and the flower has anthers 1–1.5 mm long, with the free part of filament being 8–10 mm long. The pink or red fruit is pear-shaped to spherical and from 6 to 8 mm long.

Ecology

The main hosts on which ''M. bidwillii'' grows are ''

Callitris ''Callitris'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are 16 recognized species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other three (''C. neocaledonica, C. sulcata'' and ''C. p ...

'' species, in particular ''

Callitris glaucophylla ''Callitris'' is a genus of coniferous trees in the Cupressaceae (cypress family). There are 16 recognized species in the genus, of which 13 are native to Australia and the other three (''C. neocaledonica, C. sulcata'' and ''C. p ...

''. An inventory of host plants for ''Muellerina bidwillii'' spp. is given by Downey.Downey, P.O. (1998) An inventory of host species for each aerial mistletoe species (''Loranthaceae'' and ''Viscaceae'') in Australia.
Cunninghamia 5(3) 685-720)
/ref>Downey, P.O. (2004) A regional examination of the mistletoe host species inventory.
Cunninghamia 8(3) 354-361)
/ref> ''Muellerina bidwillii'' is not known to host any butterflies.Watson, D.M. (2011) Mistletoes of Southern Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria

Taxonomy

The species was first described by George Bentham in 1867 as ''Loranthus bidwillii''. It was redescribed by B.A.Barlow in 1962 as ''Muellerina bidwillii'', with the current description of the species being that of Barlow in 1984.

Gallery

File:Muellerina bidwillii 27931488000 4659059b9c o.jpg, Haustorium on ''

'' File:Muellerina bidwillii DSC 4746 (27946969820).jpg, plant on ''

References

External links

PlantNet:Description of ''Muellerina bidwillii'' (Quirico, A.L. 1992. Flora of NSW 3)

AVH: Occurrence data for ''Muellerina bidwillii''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18075053 Parasitic plants Loranthaceae Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland bidwillii Taxa named by George Bentham Plants described in 1867