Flowers and leaves. Photographer Don Wood, south coast, NSW

Fruit. Australian Plant Image Index, Photographer Murray Fagg, near Araluen, NSW

Plant. Australian Plant Image Index, Photographer Murray Fagg, near Araluen, NSW

Common Name

Needle-leaf Mistletoe

Family

Loranthaceae

Notes

Mistletoe almost exclusively parasitic on species of Casuarina eg Casuarina cristata and Casuarina pauper. Branches to about 80cm long. Leaves clustered, 6-15cm long, 1-1.5mm wide, narrow cylindrical, downy, becoming sparsely hairy with age, with pointed tips. Flowers pink outside and downy, red inside, with green tips, initially tubular, but the 4-6 petals finally free to the base, in umbels composed of 2-4 groups of 3 flowers on stalks arising from the bases of the leaves. Fruit downy, pink or red when ripe.

Description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales pages 218-219

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Amyema~cambagei