Amyema benthamii
Amyema benthamii | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Santalales |
Family: | Loranthaceae |
Genus: | Amyema |
Species: | A. benthamii
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Binomial name | |
Amyema benthamii | |
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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[]
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ a b c 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, 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. Série 3. 10 (3): 294.
- Amyema
- Eudicots of Western Australia
- Flora of the Northern Territory
- Parasitic plants
- Epiphytes
- Taxa named by William Blakely
- Plants described in 1922