Amyema benthamii
Amyema benthamii, commonly known as the twin-leaved mistletoe or Bentham's mistletoe, is a species of flowering plant, an epiphytic hemiparasitic plant of the family Loranthaceae native to Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia in semi-arid woodland.[2] This species is named in honour of the English botanist George Bentham who between 1863 and 1878 published Flora Australiensis, the first flora of Australia.[3]
| Amyema benthamii | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Santalales |
| Family: | Loranthaceae |
| Genus: | Amyema |
| Species: | A. benthamii |
| Binomial name | |
| Amyema benthamii | |
 | |
| Collections data for A. benthamii from the Australasian Virtual Herbarium | |
Description
This mistletoe has slender stems with opposite pairs of sessile (unstalked), semi-clasping, bluish-green leaves about 2 cm (0.8 in) long. The flowers, which have reddish-brown stalks, are borne in the axils of the leaves in dangling groups of three; the buds are reddish-purple with green bases and tips, and open to reveal pale green petals and a projecting boss of stamens. It has a sparse, open habit of growth.[3]
Taxonomy
The species was first described in 1922 as Loranthus benthamii by William Blakely,[4][5] but was reassigned to the genus, Amyema, by Benedictus Hubertus Danser in 1929.[1][6]
Ecology
A. benthamii has been recorded as growing on thirty-one different species of host plant from eighteen different plant families. The most frequently used host is the bottletree (Brachychiton spp.), but other common hosts include Owenia and Acacia.[3]
References
- "Amyema benthamii". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- Barlow, B.A. 1984. "Flora of Australia Online:Amyema benthamii, Data derived from Flora of Australia Volume 22, a product of ABRS, ©Commonwealth of Australia". Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- Watson, David M. (2011). Mistletoes of Southern Australia. Csiro Publishing. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-643-10225-5.
- "Loranthus benthamii". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
- Blakely, W.F. (1922). "The Loranthaceae of Australia. Part III". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 47 (4): 393.
- Danser, B.H. (1929). "On the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Loranthaceae of Asia and Australia". Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg ser. 3. 10 (3): 294.