Greetings fellow Foxies,
A hemiparasitic plant is one that looks normal but parasitises others. I know some humans like that!
Mistletoes are hemiparasites that grow on eucalypt and acacia branches.
The beautiful Christmas tree Nuytsia floribunda is a hemiparasite that used special organs on their roots called haustoria to tap into the sap of host plants. In the 1960’s they would cause short circuits in underground power cables until resistant cables were developed.
In Foxes Lair common hemiparasites are the quandongs. In low rainfall areas, Western quandong Santalum acuminatum is a small tree that produces edible nuts covered by a red vitamin C-rich rind that makes wonderful jam. In Foxes Lair it occurs as clumps of small shrubs on sandy granitic soil that must spread by roots as they don’t form fruit.
Australian Sandalwood Santalum spicatum doesn’t occur naturally in Foxes Lair but you can see ones that Pat Rose planted at the Granite walk car park with their jam acacia hosts. They have tasty nuts like macadamias but you have to be fast to beat Jess to the annual harvest.
Most common and on lateritic soils is the attractive weeping shrub bitter quandong, Santalum murryanum that alas has inedible fruit.
Olax benthamiana is another hemiparasite that is flowering now and was difficult to find on gravelly soils before the 2009 fire. It is much more common now, presumably adapted to germinate with its acacia and melaleuca shrub hosts.
Olax and quandongs have bell-shaped root haustoria that attach to the host root and drill into it to connect to the water bearing xylem vessels.
A hemiparasitic plant is one that looks normal but parasitises others. I know some humans like that!
Mistletoes are hemiparasites that grow on eucalypt and acacia branches.
The beautiful Christmas tree Nuytsia floribunda is a hemiparasite that used special organs on their roots called haustoria to tap into the sap of host plants. In the 1960’s they would cause short circuits in underground power cables until resistant cables were developed.
In Foxes Lair common hemiparasites are the quandongs. In low rainfall areas, Western quandong Santalum acuminatum is a small tree that produces edible nuts covered by a red vitamin C-rich rind that makes wonderful jam. In Foxes Lair it occurs as clumps of small shrubs on sandy granitic soil that must spread by roots as they don’t form fruit.
Australian Sandalwood Santalum spicatum doesn’t occur naturally in Foxes Lair but you can see ones that Pat Rose planted at the Granite walk car park with their jam acacia hosts. They have tasty nuts like macadamias but you have to be fast to beat Jess to the annual harvest.
Most common and on lateritic soils is the attractive weeping shrub bitter quandong, Santalum murryanum that alas has inedible fruit.
Olax benthamiana is another hemiparasite that is flowering now and was difficult to find on gravelly soils before the 2009 fire. It is much more common now, presumably adapted to germinate with its acacia and melaleuca shrub hosts.
Olax and quandongs have bell-shaped root haustoria that attach to the host root and drill into it to connect to the water bearing xylem vessels.
 Nuytsia floribunda in Perth |  Quondong Santalum spicatum |  Bitter quandong Santalum murrayanum |  Bitter quandong fruit |  Olax benthamiana |  Bell shaped quandong root haustorium on host root |
