''Decaisnina signata'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

, an

epiphytic An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

hemiparasitic plant of 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 ...

native to Australia. It is found from Cape York to the

Kimberleys The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on ...

. It was first described by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

as ''Loranthus signatus'' in 1867 in George Bentham's ''Flora Australiensis'', but was assigned to the genus, ''

Decaisnina ''Decaisnina'' is a genus of semi-parasitic plant, parasitic shrubs (mistletoes) that occur in Australia. The type species is ''Decaisnina glauca, D. glauca''. Around thirty species are known, found from northern Australia to Tahiti and the Phili ...

'', by Philippe van Tieghem in 1895.

Description

''Decaisnina signata'' is a spreading to pendulous plant, with terete internodes. The paired leaves are lanceolate to nearly orbicular, truncate or cordate at their base, and sessile or almost sessile, with the leaf blade 4–15 cm by 2.5-5.5 cm. The leaves are dull on both sides and have distinct venation. The inflorescence axis is 3–6 cm long and carries from 4 to 9 pairs of triads on peduncles which are 1 to 5 mm long. The flowers are sessile. The corolla is slender, from 2.4 to 3.2 cm long, and is red below, green or yellow above, and often has a brown or dark red band near the apex. The fruit is ovoid to nearly globose, and about 10 mm long. Decaisnina signata1.jpg Decaisnina signata2.jpg Decaisnina signata4.jpg Decaisnina signata5.jpg

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15381753 signata Flora of Western Australia Flora of Queensland Parasitic plants Epiphytes Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Taxa named by George Bentham Flora of the Northern Territory