Mistletoe bird Greetings fellow Foxies,
If you cast your eyes upwards in Foxes lair, you will see lovely red Mistletoe flowers.
Ah Mistletoe, the flower of love, dedicated to the goddess Athena, and placed above doors at Christmas and where people who meet there must kiss. If you have a hankering for osculation, arrange to meet the intended person below a Mistletoe infected jam tree that adjoins the top of the loop that contains the Granite Walk picnic tables.
Now that you are fired up I mention that Mistletoe is a stem hemiparasite that can kill its host, and the name literally means ‘dung-on-a-twig’. This because Mistletoe produces a berry that is eaten by the Mistletoe bird, which in turn straddles branches to deposit its dropping containing the seed on the branch. When the seed germinates, the seedling produces a connection like a vegetative placenta that enables it to tap into the host’s sap.
Dodder laurel is also a stem parasite, but is a holoparasite.
If you cast your eyes upwards in Foxes lair, you will see lovely red Mistletoe flowers.
Ah Mistletoe, the flower of love, dedicated to the goddess Athena, and placed above doors at Christmas and where people who meet there must kiss. If you have a hankering for osculation, arrange to meet the intended person below a Mistletoe infected jam tree that adjoins the top of the loop that contains the Granite Walk picnic tables.
Now that you are fired up I mention that Mistletoe is a stem hemiparasite that can kill its host, and the name literally means ‘dung-on-a-twig’. This because Mistletoe produces a berry that is eaten by the Mistletoe bird, which in turn straddles branches to deposit its dropping containing the seed on the branch. When the seed germinates, the seedling produces a connection like a vegetative placenta that enables it to tap into the host’s sap.
Dodder laurel is also a stem parasite, but is a holoparasite.
There are 2 species. Stalked Mistletoe Anyema miquelli is a broad leafed species that favours eucalypts. However the species on the jam is the much leaner Wireleaf Mistletoe Anyema preissi that favours acacias and probably appeals to more restrained individuals that frown on public displays of affection (probably turn off the light to have a smooch).
Stalked Mistletoe (left) Wireleaf Mistletoe (right)
Mistletoe berries are a bush tucker that 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, and they do not necessarily kill their host.
This fabulous blog shows that mistletoes are an integral part of the bush. Their fruit is food for several birds and animals, and they do not necessarily kill their host.
