''Muellerina flexialabastra'', common name Hoop 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 ...
aerial 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 Queensland.][
]
Description
''M. flexialabastra'' is a compact, bushy plant found in high altitude sub-tropical rainforests and the drier rainforests between Queensland and New South Wales.[ The inflorescence is a terminal raceme off a central axis, and the pink to red tubular flowers occur in strongly reflexed, decussate pairs with a central sessile flower.][ The ovoid fruits (6 – 15 mm long) are a red-blotched yellowish-green.][
]
Ecology
The main host on which ''M. flexialabastra'' grows is Hoop pine ('' Araucaria cunninghamii'').[ An inventory of host plants for ''Muellerina flexialabastra'' 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 flexialabastra'' is not known to host any butterflies, but butterfly species using '' M. celastroides'' may use this mistletoe as well.[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first described by Paul Downey and Carol Wilson in 2004 as ''Muellerina flexialabastra''.[ There are no synonyms.][
]
References
External links
AVH: Occurrence data for ''Muellerina flexialabastra''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18081396
Parasitic plants
Flora of Queensland
flexialabastra
Taxa named by Paul O. Downey
Plants described in 2004