Mistletoe

If you cast your eyes upwards in Foxes Lair in February, you may see lovely red mistletoe flowers.
Ah mistletoe, the flower of love dedicated to the goddess Athena and placed above doors at Christmas where people who meet must kiss. If you have a hankering for osculation, arrange to meet the intended person in Foxes Lair.

Stalked mistletoe berry

Now that you are fired up note that Mistletoe is a stem hemiparasite and the name literally means ‘dung-on-a-twig’. The mistletoe bird, which has a very short digestive system, eats the berries and deposits droppings containing seed on host branches. A germinating seedling produces a connection like a vegetative placenta (haustorium), which enables it to tap into the host’s sap.
Mistletoe berries are a bush tucker, which are sweet but so sticky that they the flesh can't be separated from the seed; this helps the seeds to stick on branches after passing through whatever eats them.
This fabulous blog shows that mistletoes are an integral part of the bush. Their fruit is food for several birds and animals, They do not necessarily kill their host, and are sensitive to fire.

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Mistletoe bird pair (female left)

Mistletoe on a wandoo branch

Narrow leaved mistletoe berry

There are two species. stalked mistletoe Anyema miquelli  is a broad-leafed species, which favours eucalypts.  Acacias host the much leaner wireleaf mistletoe Anyema preissi.

​Dodder laurel is another stem parasite, but is a holoparasite.

Stalked mistletoe (left) wireleaf mistletoe (right)

The Mistletoe Moth Comocrus behri caterpillar can be found in spring (caterpillars( and summer (moths)