Australian Mistletoes Australian National Botanic Gardens Australian National Herbarium

Taxonomy

The families Santalaceae, Loranthaceae and Viscaceae were treated in Flora of Australia Volume 22 (1984). Most of the information presented remains up-to-date, and the keys are still adequate for identification of mistletoes.

The species currently recognized in Australia are set out below.

Those for which there are no significant amendments since the Flora treatment are marked with an asterisk (*).

(Australian Plant Census lists, with synonomy and links to APNI, are available for these families, end of this page)

Brief notes and references are provided for the cases where later studies have necessitated change or added to our knowledge. For completeness, root-parasites have been included in the list for Loranthaceae (Atkinsonia, Nuytsia), but the list for Santalaceae has been restricted to the sole aerial parasitic genus in Australia (Dendromyza).

Currently we recognize 89 mistletoe species in 14 genera in Australia, as follows:

Of these, 66 species (74%) are endemic to Australia.

SANTALACEAE

Dendromyza

• Dendromyza reinwardtiana (Blume ex Korthals) Danser*

LORANTHACEAE

Amyema. In Flora of Australia the names of Amyema species were given in neuter gender, in accordance with nomenclature rules existing at the time. Subsequent changes to these rules required that Amyema be treated as feminine, so that, for example, epithets with “-um” endings now require “-a” endings.

• Amyema benthamii (Blakely) Danser*
• Amyema bifurcata (Bentham) Tieghem*
• Amyema biniflora Barlow*
• Amyema cambagei (Blakely) Danser*
• Amyema congener (Sieber ex Schultes & J.H.Schultes) Tieghem*
• Amyema conspicua (F.M.Bailey) Danser*
• Amyema dolichopoda Barlow*
• Amyema eburna (Barlow) Barlow, Blumea 36: 327 (1991).
  This species was originally described as a variety of Amyema bifurcata, but additional specimens showed it to have a wide area in the Kimberleys, and to consistently differ from A. bifurcata in its subsessile flowers as well as the ivory-white hair colour, even though there is geographic overlap with A. bifurcata.
• Amyema fitzgeraldii (Blakely) Danser*
• Amyema friesiana (K.Schumann) Danser*
• Amyema gaudichaudii (DC.) Tieghem*
• Amyema gibberula (Tate) Danser*
• Amyema glabra (Domin) Danser*
• Amyema haematodes (Schwarz) Danser*
• Amyema herbertiana Barlow*
• Amyema hilliana (Blakely) Danser*
• Amyema linophylla (Fenzl) Tieghem*
• Amyema lucasii (Blakely) Danser*
• Amyema mackayensis (Blakely) Danser*
• Amyema maidenii (Blakely) Barlow*
• Amyema melaleucae (Lehmann ex Miquel) Tieghem*
• Amyema microphylla Barlow*
• Amyema miquelii (Lehmann ex Miquel) Tieghem*
• Amyema miraculosa (Miquel) Tieghem.
  In addition to the two subspecies recognized from eastern and western Australia, Amyema miraculosa also occurs in Timor, where it is treated as a third subspecies latifolia Barlow, Blumea 36: 350 (1991).
• Amyema nestor (S.Moore) Danser*
• Amyema pendula (Sieber ex Sprengel) Tieghem*
• Amyema plicatula (Krause) Danser.
  This species is recorded from New Guinea and New Britain, mostly at low elevations, but ranging up to 2400 m. It has a wide range of rain forest hosts. In the late 1980s it was discovered in the Nightcap Ranges in northern NSW, seemingly with a disjunction of 2400 km in the species range. However Barlow’s prediction that other populations might exist in the intervening area has been borne out, as the species has since been found on Mt Lewis in north Queensland. The species is distinguished by its 4- to 8-rayed umbel of triads with all flowers sessile in a triangular rather than linear arrangement, leaves mostly in opposite pairs or threes, undulate at the margin and rounded at the apex. For more details see Barlow, Blumea 36: 353 (1991).
• Amyema preissii (Miquel) Tieghem*
• Amyema pyriformis Barlow, Blumea 36: 357 (1991).
  This species was first collected in 1972, and is known from two collections in the West Kimberley district, parasitic on Eucalyptus. It is closely related to Amyema bifurcata, A. biniflora and A. eburnea, sharing the twice-forked, four-flowered inflorescence, and narrow, falcate, pendulous leaves. It is distinguished by its lack of hairs, short leaf lamina less than 10 cm long, small bracts under the flowers, and narrow, pear-shaped, golden-yellow fruits.
• Amyema quandang (Lindley) Tieghem*
• Amyema quaternifolia Barlow*
• Amyema queenslandica (Blakely) Danser.
  This species is now known to be identical to plants previously placed in Amyema involvens, widespread in New Guinea, and is yet another example of mistletoe species shared between the two land areas.
• Amyema sanguinea (F.Mueller) Danser*
• Amyema seemeniana (K.Schumann) Danser*
• Amyema subcapitata Barlow*
• Amyema thalassia Barlow*
• Amyema tridactyla Barlow*
• Amyema villiflora (Domin) Barlow.
  Additional specimens have extended the known range through the Kimberleys to the northwest coast of Western Australia. In this western part of its range it appears to intergrade with the related species Amyema benthamii, A. conspicua and A. dolichopoda.
• Amyema whitei (Blakely) Danser*

Amylotheca

• Amylotheca dictyophleba (F.Mueller) Tieghem.
  This species, already known from southern New Guinea, is now known to be identical to plants previously placed in Amylotheca pyramidata, common in New Caledonia, and A. banksiana, from the New Hebrides. This is another example of a mistletoe species originally thought to be an Australian endemic but now known to occur well beyond Australia.
• Amylotheca subumbellata Barlow*

Atkinsonia

• Atkinsonia ligustrina (Cunningham ex Lindley) F.Mueller*

Benthamina

• Benthamina alyxifolia (F.Mueller ex Bentham) Tieghem*

Cecarria

• Cecarria obtusifolia (Merrill) Barlow. The species is now also recorded from Flores and Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands, as well as its long-known occurrence in the Philippines.

Dactyliophora

• Dactyliophora novaeguineae (Bailey) Danser*

Decaisnina. Following Barlow’s revision of the entire genus through its range to Indonesia and the Philippines, the status of some Australian species and subspecies has changed.

• Decaisnina angustata (Barlow) Barlow, Blumea 38: 77 (1993).
  This species was previously treated as a subspecies of Decaisnina petiolata. Because D. petiolata subsp. petiolata is now placed in D. triflora, the residue, the former subsp. angustata, is renamed accordingly at species level.
• Decaisnina biangulata (W.Fitzgerald) Barlow*
• Decaisnina brittenii (Blakely) Barlow*
• Decaisnina congesta Barlow.
  This species is also now known from the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
• Decaisnina hollrungii (K.Schumann) Barlow*
• Decaisnina signata (F.Mueller ex Bentham) Tieghem*
• Decaisnina triflora (Spanoghe) Tieghem.
  This species is distributed in the Lesser Sunda Islands and throughout New Guinea as well as northern Australia. In Flora of Australia the Australian specimens were referred to Decaisnina petiolata subsp. petiolata. Decaisnina triflora has been significantly realigned, and many specimens previously included there have now been assigned to other species, including to D. congesta in Australia. Decaisnina triflora is now a much less diverse entity than before.

Dendrophthoe

• Dendrophthoe acacioides (Cunningham ex Bentham) Tieghem*
• Dendrophthoe curvata (Blume) Miquel.
  This species is distributed from Sumatra to New Guinea, Solomon Islands and northern Australia, but absent from the Lesser Sunda Islands and Philippines. It was formerly subsumed in Dendrophthoe falcata, which was regarded as a very polymorphic species extending from India to Australia. Other Asian species can also be segregated, leaving D. falcata as a more homogeneous Indian species. For further detail, see Barlow, Blumea 40: 17 (1995).
• Dendrophthoe glabrescens (Blakely) Barlow.
  Formerly considered a species of open forests in Australia, Dendrophthoe glabrescens is now also known from similar habitats in Lombok, Timor and Alor in the Lesser Sunda Islands, as well as Papua New Guinea. Specimens from humid forests in north Queensland previously attributed to D. glabrescens are better treated as hairless forms of D. curvata.
• Dendrophthoe homoplastica (Blakely) Danser*
• Dendrophthoe odontocalyx (Bentham) Tieghem.
  Formerly considered endemic to the Northern Territory Top End, Dendrophthoe odontocalyx is now known from eastern Java and from Sumbawa, Alor and Timor. In this extended area it appears to replace D. curvata, which mostly occurs in humid forests.
• Dendrophthoe vitellina (F.Mueller) Tieghem*

Diplatia

• Diplatia furcata Barlow*
• Diplatia grandibractea (F.Mueller) Tieghem*
• Diplatia tomentosa Barlow*

Lysiana

• Lysiana casuarinae (Miquel) Tieghem*
• Lysiana exocarpi (Behr) Tieghem*
• Lysiana filifolia Barlow*
• Lysiana linearifolia Tieghem*
• Lysiana maritima (Barlow) Barlow*
• Lysiana murrayi (F.Mueller & Tate) Tieghem*
• Lysiana spathulata (Blakely) Barlow*
• Lysiana subfalcata (Hooker) Barlow*

Muellerina

• Muellerina bidwillii (Bentham) Barlow*
• Muellerina celastroides (Sieber ex Schultes & J.H.Schultes) Tieghem*
• Muellerina eucalyptoides (DC.) Barlow*
• Muellerina flexialabastra Downey & C.A.Wilson.
  A new species from southeast Queensland described in 2004.  It is very similar to M. celastroides, differing in narrower leaves, corolla size and shape, and perhaps in its known host (Araucaria cunninghamii)
• Muellerina myrtifolia (Cunningham ex Bentham) Barlow*

Nuytsia

• Nuytsia floribunda (Labillardiere) R.Brown*

VISCACEAE

Korthalsella

• Korthalsella arthroclada Cranfield.
  A new species from WA described in 2002.  It is different from all other known Australian species, but is very similar to and probably conspecific with K. dacrydii (Ridl.) Danser, which is widespread but sporadically recorded in Indomalesia from Peninsula Malaya and Sumatra eastwards to Timor.  In view of what we now know of the dispersal capacities of Korthalsella species, especially by migratory birds, this elusive species may be present more widely in coastal WA than its known occurrence near Eneabba.  According to R. Schodde, there are several species of birds (especially seabirds) which regularly move between these land areas, and are potential dispersal agents.
• Korthalsella breviarticulata (Tieghem) Danser*
• Korthalsella grayi Barlow*
• Korthalsella japonica (Thunberg) Engler*
• Korthalsella leucothrix Barlow*
• Korthalsella papuana Danser*
• Korthalsella rubra (Tieghem) Engler*

Notothixos

• Notothixos cornifolius Oliver*
• Notothixos incanus (Hooker) Oliver*
• Notothixos leiophyllus K.Schumann*
• Notothixos subaureus Oliver*

Viscum

• Viscum articulatum Burmann.f.
  This species ranges from eastern India to southern China and Vietnam, and southwards to eastern Australia. It has been treated relatively broadly in the past, because boundaries between related species are difficult to define. It can be distinguished by its very narrow internodes, always distinctly angular even when slightly flattened, and its globular white fruits. For further detail see Barlow, Flora of Thailand 7: 712 (2002). It is nevertheless sharply distinct from other Australian species.
• Viscum bancroftii Blakely*
• Viscum ovalifolium DC.*
• Viscum whitei Blakely*

Australian Plant Census

Lists showing synonomy for the mistletoe taxa in these three families, and links to the Australain Plant Name Index (APNI) are available from the Australian Plant Census project:

Loranthaceae
Santalaceae (only genus Dendromyza)
Viscaceae

See also a Checklist to the Australian species showing host genera, with links to photos.