''Muellerina celastroides'', common names Banksia mistletoe and coast 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
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Victoria and Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
.[
]
Description
''Muellerina celastroides'' is an erect or spreading plant which is smooth except for the inflorescence axis which is covered with minute, brown, densely matted woolly hairs.[ The leaves are oblong to elliptic and 2.5-7 cm long and 15-25 mm wide, with a rounded apex and an attenuate base.][
The inflorescence is a raceme of 1–3 pairs of triads, with the stems of lateral flowers being 3–6 mm long.][ The calyx is entire and about 1 mm long.][ The corolla in mature bud is 22–35 mm long.][ The anthers are about 1.5 mm long, with the free part of filament being 8–13 mm long.][ The fruit is pear-shaped, 7–11 mm long, and green grading to light red.][
]
Ecology
The most frequently recorded hosts on which ''M. celastroides'' grows are ''Allocasuarina
''Allocasuarina'' is a genus of trees in the flowering plant family Casuarinaceae. They are endemic to Australia, occurring primarily in the south. Like the closely related genus ''Casuarina'', they are commonly called sheoaks or she-oaks.
Wi ...
'', '' Banksia'', and ''Eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...
'' species, but it frequently is found on exotics and on other mistletoes.[ An inventory of host plants for ''Muellerina celastroides'' 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 celastroides'' hosts the butterflies: ''Delias nigrina
''Delias nigrina'', the black Jezebel or common Jezebel (also used for '' Delias eucharis''), is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found along the eastern seaboard of Australia, from Queensland, through New South Wales to Victoria.
The w ...
'', '' Delias argenthona'', ''Hypochrysops digglesii
''Hypochrysops'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae first described by Cajetan Felder and Rudolf Felder in 1860. This particular genus is exclusive to the Australian area with only a few species straying into Papua New Guinea.
F ...
'', ''Ogyris abrota
''Ogyris abrota'', the dark purple azure, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Australia, from southern Queensland to south-eastern Australia.
The wingspan is about 40 mm. The upper surface of the wings of the males is pu ...
'', ''Ogyris zosine
''Ogyris zosine'', the northern purple azure, is a member of the family Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are a ...
'' and '' Candelides margarita''.[Watson, D.M. (2011) Mistletoes of Southern Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria][
]
Taxonomy
The species was first described by Franz Sieber in 1829 as ''Loranthus celastroides''.[ It was redescribed by van Tieghem in 1895 as ''Muellerina celastroides''.][
]
References
External links
*
*
AVH: Occurrence data for ''Muellerina celastroides''Photographs on Flickr of ''Muellerina celastroides''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15383163
Parasitic plants
Loranthaceae
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Queensland
Flora of Victoria (Australia)
celastroides
Taxa named by Franz Sieber
Plants described in 1829