This mistletoe cares more about host trees than climate
A tropical mistletoe that grows on trees across South America depends far more on finding the right host tree than on climate or the birds that spread its seeds, according to new research.
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, Atkinsonia ligustrina, and Gaiadendron punctatum Loranthaceae are primarily xylem parasites, but their haustoria may sometimes tap the phloem, while Tristerix aphyllus is almost holoparasitic. For a more complete description of the Australian Loranthaceae, see Flora of Australia online Archived 2018-04-01 at the Wayback Machine, for the Malesian Loranthaceae see Flora of Malesia.
From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
With one plant each: Psittacanthus (Psittacanthus robustus (mistletoe)).
If you've ever spotted a clump of mistletoe thriving on one tree while the identical-looking tree...
Every article on Plant News that mentions a member of this family, newest first.
A tropical mistletoe that grows on trees across South America depends far more on finding the right host tree than on climate or the birds that spread its seeds, according to new research.