Showy Mistletoe
Atkinsonia ligustrina
Macro Mondays: Superstition
In the 18th-century, a couple would kiss under the mistletoe, and one berry would be plucked with each kiss; once all the berries were gone, the kissing was over.
Doesn't work very well "Down Under" or anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere because it's Summer at Christmas, so flowers not fruit.
You probably haven't seen this Mistletoe: It's a rare plant (a maximum geographic range of less than 100 km). Most Mistletoe are parasites on other plants, however, Atkinsonia ligustrina is terrestrial, and not epiphytic. It is a hemi–parasite on the roots of neighbouring trees and shrubs: it obtains nutrients from them, but its own leaves make chlorophyll.
I've been trying to identify this plant since I saw berries on it in Autumn (March/April). With flowers I've finally worked it out with help from iNaturalist ('though it mostly suggested Persoonia ... which I knew it was not).
Showy Mistletoe
Atkinsonia ligustrina
Macro Mondays: Superstition
In the 18th-century, a couple would kiss under the mistletoe, and one berry would be plucked with each kiss; once all the berries were gone, the kissing was over.
Doesn't work very well "Down Under" or anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere because it's Summer at Christmas, so flowers not fruit.
You probably haven't seen this Mistletoe: It's a rare plant (a maximum geographic range of less than 100 km). Most Mistletoe are parasites on other plants, however, Atkinsonia ligustrina is terrestrial, and not epiphytic. It is a hemi–parasite on the roots of neighbouring trees and shrubs: it obtains nutrients from them, but its own leaves make chlorophyll.
I've been trying to identify this plant since I saw berries on it in Autumn (March/April). With flowers I've finally worked it out with help from iNaturalist ('though it mostly suggested Persoonia ... which I knew it was not).