Mistletoes of Southern Australia

Mistletoes

of Southern

Australia

Mistletoes

of Southern

Australia

DAVID M WATSON

Illustrations by Robyn Hulley

© David M Watson 2011

Illustrations © Robyn Hulley 2011

All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO PUBLISHING for all permission requests.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Watson, David M

Mistletoes of Southern Australia / by David M Watson

illustrations by Robyn Hulley.

9780643095939 (pbk.); 9780643100831 (eBook); 9780643102255 (ePub)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Mistletoes – Australia, Southern.

Wild flowers – Australia, Southern.

Hulley, Robyn.

583.880994

Published by

CSIRO PUBLISHING

150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139)

Collingwood VIC 3066

Australia

Front cover: Long-flowered Mistletoe (Dendrophthoe vitellina)

Back cover: Grey Mistletoe (Amyema quandang)

Title page photo: David Clarke

All photographs taken by author unless stated otherwise.

Set in Adobe Garamond 11/14

Edited by Peter Storer Editorial Services

Cover design by Alicia Freile, Tango Media

Text design by James Kelly

Typeset by Oryx Publishing

Index by Indexicana

Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd

CSIRO PUBLISHING publishes and distributes scientific, technical and health science books, magazines and journals from Australia to a worldwide audience and conducts these activities autonomously from the research activities of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of, and should not be attributed to, the publisher or CSIRO.

Original print edition:

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Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

1  Biology

2  Identification

Species accounts: Loranthaceae

Visaceae

3  Ecology

4  Cultural significance

5  Management

Species list

References

Index

The Mistletoe Moth Comocrus behri is a distinctive day-flying moth frequently seen in woodlands throughout southern Australia. It lays its eggs on mistletoe plants and the caterpillars feed exclusively on mistletoe leaves, pupating within an ornamented chrysalis affixed to the end of a leafless branch.

A Western Australian Christmas tree, the world’s largest mistletoe, with the author for scale.

Preface

Mistletoes are a distinctive group of native plants found throughout Australia, from Wilsons Promontory to Cape York, Byron Bay to Monkey Mia and most regions in between. In addition to forest and woodland, desert and heathland, mistletoes also abound in urban and agricultural areas, making them some of the continent’s most cosmopolitan plants. A great deal has been written about Australian mistletoes, but this material is difficult to access and beyond the reach of most people. Detailed species descriptions, identification keys and distributional summaries are available in the national and state-based Floras, but they are written for specialist readers fluent in botanical terminology. Likewise, a multitude of articles summarising findings from more than a century of research are contained in journals and scientific texts, but these articles are widely scattered and targeted primarily towards fellow experts. By drawing together existing knowledge about these plants, I aim to make this information accessible to a wider audience and thereby raise awareness of these distinctive and beautiful Australian natives. This book also provides an opportunity to dispel some of the misunderstandings and unfounded beliefs about these plants – Australian mistletoes are not toxic, they are not introduced and they do not necessarily kill trees. Finally, this book highlights critical gaps in our understanding of Australian mistletoes. There are still countless secrets, mysteries and unanswered questions; there are even un-named mistletoe species awaiting formal description. Although some of these grey areas are the subject of current research, interested readers can also make significant contributions to these knowledge gaps. So, rather than being the definitive volume on Australian mistletoes, this book is intended to foster an appreciation and deeper understanding of these plants and to inspire others to add pieces to the puzzle.

This book is arranged into five sections. In the first chapter, I explain what is (and isn’t) a mistletoe and give an overview of their origins, relationships, general biology and overall patterns of diversity, comparing southern Australia with other regions. The second chapter comprises detailed species accounts of the 46 mistletoe species recorded in southern Australia, allowing mistletoes to be identified to species without specialist botanical knowledge. In the third chapter, results of ecological research on these native plants are summarised, detailing how these parasitic plants interact with their hosts, pollinators, seed dispersers and natural enemies, and the roles they play within their respective communities. The fourth chapter focuses on the cultural significance of mistletoes in southern Australia, contrasting imported European beliefs with home-grown Indigenous lore. Finally, the management of mistletoes, especially in urban and agricultural landscapes, is discussed, including a summary of current information about management techniques and their appropriate use.

A Pale-leaved Mistletoe in a Mulga growing beside Cameron Corner, where new south Wales, south Australia and Queensland meet. All those mistletoe species occurring in habitats south of this point are included in this book.

Hakea Mistletoe

Although drawing on material from throughout Australia and elsewhere, the scope of this book is restricted to southern Australia, covering every mistletoe species occurring in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the southern half of Western Australia. Accordingly, this book does not include the remaining 45 species found in northern Australia, nor those species and populations found on Australia’s offshore territories. The reasons for this are primarily pragmatic: many of the northern species occupy restricted distributions in remote areas (some are known only from single localities) and little is known about their biology, distribution, host-range and life history. My hope is that this book will help foster interest in Australian mistletoes and stimulate birdwatchers travelling to Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands and naturalists visiting the Kimberley and Arnhem Land to look out for these northern mistletoes and improve our collective knowledge.

Acknowledgements

My interest in mistletoes stretches back to my childhood, when I encountered strange green clumps in Plane Trees growing in suburban Melbourne. I began to appreciate the diversity of these intriguing plants and their importance to birds during my formative Honours research in the Buloke woodlands of western Victoria. As my studies and research took me to different places, I kept note of mistletoes and gradually built up an understanding of the various ecological interactions between these parasitic plants and their hosts, pollinators, seed dispersers, natural enemies and overall communities.

The impetus to write this book came from my partner in this project Robyn Hulley who, upon realising there wasn’t a single book devoted to the identification and natural history of Australian mistletoes, contacted me and encouraged me to write it. Although many others had urged me to write a book on the subject, Robyn was the only one who offered to help with the endeavour, so I simply couldn’t refuse! Thank you Robyn – for your tireless enthusiasm, dedication and tremendous attention to detail that resulted in the series of accurate and beautifully composed plates.

Square-stemmed Mistletoe

I am indebted to Maggie for her support and encouragement during the planning and writing of this book and to my boys Douglas, Jack and Charlie for their forbearance and probing questions about the finer points of mistletoe natural history. Charles Sturt University has supported my dedicated research on mistletoes from the outset, and the School of Environmental Sciences and the Institute for Land, Water and Society have assisted Robyn and me in completing this book. I am grateful to Nick Alexander at CSIRO Publishing for his guidance and to editor Peter Storer for improving the consistency and clarity of the text. My research students past and present have contributed greatly to the ideas expressed herein, and I am especially grateful to Laurence Barea, Anna Burns, Wendy March and John Rawsthorne for sharing their ideas and insights. Finally, thank you to everyone who contributed photographs, field notes, obscure publications and fresh samples of mistletoes to be painted – this book would not have been possible without your interest and generosity.

David M Watson

‘Avonlea’, Burrumbuttock

Leopardwood Mistletoe

1   Biology

Mistletoes are a diverse group of parasitic plants found throughout the world. Like mangroves and succulents, mistletoes are a functional group, defined by the way they grow. Thus, rather than a single plant family, mistletoes include representatives of several families, and their distinctive parasitic habit has evolved independently on multiple occasions. These complex origins and global distribution have led to some confusion, with many people familiar with European mistletoe being unaware of the hundreds of mistletoes found beyond Europe, and many Australians assuming that mistletoe was introduced into this continent. In this chapter, these misconceptions are dispelled and a summary of our current understanding of mistletoes’ origins, diversity and life history provided. Having clarified what mistletoes are, various other kinds of plants that live within the canopy are distinguished. Global patterns of diversity and distribution are summarised for the main mistletoe groups, as well as current ideas about their origin and early evolution. Moving closer to home, the biogeographic patterns of Australasian mistletoes are discussed, comparing Australian mistletoes with near neighbours New Guinea and New Zealand, and evaluating possible explanations for the absence of mistletoe from Tasmania. Finally, the life cycle of mistletoes is described, detailing the complex set of processes that allow one plant to depend entirely upon another.

What is mistletoe?

A young girl once described mistletoes to me as ear-rings for gum trees. While describing perfectly the teardrop-shaped clumps of dense foliage at the edge of eucalypt crowns familiar to many Australians, this description does not apply to all species and a more inclusive definition is needed. Mistletoes are obligate parasitic plants – instead of obtaining nutrients and water directly from the soil through roots, they take them from other plants. Over 4500 species in 20 families of flowering plants have adopted a parasitic habit, looking like regular herbs, shrubs or trees above ground while tapping into the roots of nearby plants below ground. Relying on their hosts for all of their water and nutritional needs, most parasitic plants manufacture their own carbohydrates using photosynthesis. This growth habit is known as hemiparasitism (half parasitic) and distinguishes these green plants from various ghostly plants with no chlorophyll that rely on their host plants or host fungi for all of their needs (holoparasites). Unlike most hemiparasites, mistletoes attach to their hosts above ground, thereby freeing them from the soil completely. Several other parasites have adopted an aerial habit, but mistletoes are distinguished by their growth form – they are shrubby, often woody plants. So, mistletoes can be defined using three words – shrubby aerial hemiparasites – and this definition sets mistletoes apart from all other plants, both within Australia and worldwide.

The mistletoe Viscum album from otto Wilhelm thomé’s Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz (Flora of Germany, Austria and switzerland) 1885.

Derivation of the word ‘mistletoe’

Originally used to refer exclusively to the single species in Western Europe (Viscum album), the word mistletoe dates back to the Anglo-Saxon, but the exact derivation is debatable. Some linguists suggest the word can be traced to Misteltan, coming from two Old German words: Mist (dung) and Tan or Tang (twig), referring to the way mistletoe seeds are dispersed by birds. An alternative suggestion is that the word came from Mist the Old Dutch word for bird lime – a sticky glue-like substance derived from various plants including Viscum album smeared on twigs and branches to catch small birds. A third option is a combination of Tan with another Old German word, Mistl (different), referring to the clear difference between parasite and host (especially in winter, when the leafy mistletoe contrasts with the bare twigs of its deciduous host). Regardless of its derivation, the word has been in use since the 14th century.

Using this definition, we can consider other kinds of plants that are often confused with mistletoes. A distinctive plant found throughout the world is dodder (many species in the genus Cuscuta) and the unrelated, but remarkably similar, dodder-laurels (Cassytha species) – twisting vines that form tangled clumps of yellow to lime-green tendrils within the branches of their host plants. Although they are hemiparasitic and attach to their hosts above ground, these herbaceous vinelike plants have no woody tissues and never adopt a shrubby habit, so are not regarded as mistletoes. The branches of forest trees – especially in the tropics and other high rainfall regions – are often covered with smaller plants, including mosses, liverworts, ferns, orchids and a range of other flowering plants. These plants, known as epiphytes, are not parasitic and take nothing from the tree – they just grow upon the bark and use the tree to grow above the ground where there is more light and greater access to pollinators and seed dispersers.

The twining parasite dodder Cuscuta pubescens.

Strangler figs represent a particular kind of epiphyte, which begin growing high in the canopy, then send down roots as they grow larger, eventually out-shading the original tree. Again, this is not parasitism but, rather, a novel strategy to gain a competitive advantage in dark closed-canopy forests.

An epiphytic bird’s nest fern Asplenum australasicum.

A strangler fig Ficus sp. – not a mistletoe.

Aside from epiphytes, there is one final kind of growth that can be confused with mistletoes. A range