Amyema benthamii
Scientific classification Edit this 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

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]

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

  1. 1 2 "Amyema benthamii". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  2. ↑ 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". Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Watson, David M. (2011). Mistletoes of Southern Australia. Csiro Publishing. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-0-643-10225-5.
  4. ↑ "Loranthus benthamii". Australian Plant Name Index, IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  5. ↑ Blakely, W.F. (1922). "The Loranthaceae of Australia. Part III". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 47 (4): 393.
  6. ↑ Danser, B.H. (1929). "On the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Loranthaceae of Asia and Australia". Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg. Série 3. 10 (3): 294.
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