''Amyema miraculosa'', also known as the fleshy mistletoe and the round-leaf mistletoe, is an Australian native

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...

found in all states except

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. It is a woody,

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 ...

plant, in the

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 ...

family. Being hemiparasitic, it draws water and minerals from its host, however it

photosynthesis Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabo ...

es to manufacture its own supply of

carbohydrates A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ma ...

. The plant has thick, fleshy leaves with rounded tips. It has dark red flowers which are carried in groups of three and the fruit is a narrow shaped yellow berry. It forms dense, upright clumps and is often found parasitising other parasitic plants, making it an epiparasite. It has been recorded utilising a total of 41 different species as hosts, however its preferred hosts are from the ''

Santalum ''Santalum'' is a genus of woody flowering plants in the Santalaceae family, the best known and most commercially valuable of which is the Indian sandalwood tree, '' S. album''. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasit ...

'' family and other Loranthaceae species. There are two subspecies within Australia. ''A. miraculosa'' subsp. ''boormanii'' which is predominantly in the eastern half of the continent while ''A. miraculosa'' subsp. ''miraculosa'' is present mainly in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Ecology and animal interactions

With its tubular red flowers, the pollination of ''A. miraculosa'' is predominantly via birds. Once the fruit has set, it is then dispersed by a different suite of birds of which the main species is the mistletoe bird (''Dicaeum hirundinaceum''). The seed passes quickly through the gut of the bird and if it is deposited on a branch of a suitable species, the seed will grow into a new plant. ''A. miraculosa'' is also a host plant for butterflies and their caterpillars

Taxonomy

Fleshy mistletoe was first described in 1845 by Dutch botanist Freidrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel as Loranthus miraculosus and was transferred to Amyema by French botanist Phillipe Édouard Léon Van Teighem in 1895.

Gallery

Fleshy_mistletoe_with_flowers.jpg Fleshy_mistletoe_flower.jpg Amyema miraculosa parasitising another Amyema miquelii.jpg Amyema miraculosa parasitising Amyema miquelii.jpg

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15377776 Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (state) Flora of Western Australia miraculosa