NZ Yellow Mistletoe - Alepis flavida
Alepis flavida (Yellow Mistletoe) is easily differentiated from Peraxilla tetrapetala, (Red Mistletoe) and Peraxilla colensoi (Scarlet Mistletoe) by its smaller, yellow-orange flowers. It also tends to grow on branches further out from the host trunk, and its leaves have a faint red margin. Yellow mistletoe is the most host-specific mistletoe species in New Zealand, nearly always growing on mountain beech, Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides.
Canterbury beech forest contain some of the largest remaining populations of the endangered mistletoes Peraxilla tetrapetala and Alepis flavida in NZ.
All beech mistletoes flower in December and January each year. Beech mistletoes are one of the few plants in the world with exploding flowers. For pollination to occur the flowers need to be twisted open by native birds like tui and bellbird. When ripe these flowers explode open and spray the bird with pollen. When the bird visits the next flower the pollen is transferred to it to allow that plant to produce seeds.
A tiny native bee can do the same thing.
MIstletoes, birds and bees have developed a mutualism, a specialised relationship to benefit all. Birds rely on mistletoe fro fruit and nectar and mistletoe relies on birds for pollination and seed dispersal. for all species to survive their habitat needs to be retained.
The Department of Conservation has discovered several new populations at various sites around Canterbury. DOC has undertaken a variety of protective works and reports that populations are on the rise again.
Mistletoes are symbiotic parasites that live on beech trees. They are hemi-parasitic as they can produce food on their own through photosynthesis and use their special roots (haustoria) to hang onto trees and extract water and nutrients from their hosts.
The photographs were taken, over a period of weeks, of a plant growing as a parasite on Nothofagus solandri var cliffortioides growing in the glasshouse section of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury.
Canterbury beech forest contain some of the largest remaining populations of the endangered mistletoes Peraxilla tetrapetala and Alepis flavida in NZ.
All beech mistletoes flower in December and January each year. Beech mistletoes are one of the few plants in the world with exploding flowers. For pollination to occur the flowers need to be twisted open by native birds like tui and bellbird. When ripe these flowers explode open and spray the bird with pollen. When the bird visits the next flower the pollen is transferred to it to allow that plant to produce seeds.
A tiny native bee can do the same thing.
MIstletoes, birds and bees have developed a mutualism, a specialised relationship to benefit all. Birds rely on mistletoe fro fruit and nectar and mistletoe relies on birds for pollination and seed dispersal. for all species to survive their habitat needs to be retained.
The Department of Conservation has discovered several new populations at various sites around Canterbury. DOC has undertaken a variety of protective works and reports that populations are on the rise again.
Mistletoes are symbiotic parasites that live on beech trees. They are hemi-parasitic as they can produce food on their own through photosynthesis and use their special roots (haustoria) to hang onto trees and extract water and nutrients from their hosts.
The photographs were taken, over a period of weeks, of a plant growing as a parasite on Nothofagus solandri var cliffortioides growing in the glasshouse section of Biological Sciences at the University of Canterbury.