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Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 9:45 am on Friday, 12 December 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Monday, 2 March 2026 +08:00.

Lysiana Tiegh.

Reference
Bull.Soc.Bot.France 599 (1895)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Common name. Mistletoes. Family Loranthaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Shrubs; evergreen. Plants rootless (in the normal sense); partially parasitic. On aerial parts of the host. Leaves cauline (ass.). Stem internodes solid (ass.). Stem growth conspicuously sympodial. Mesophytic, or xerophytic. Leaves opposite (sometimes clustered on a condensed axis); leathery, or membranous; edgewise to the stem, or with ‘normal’ orientation; simple. Leaf blades entire; flat, or solid (or compressed); terete; pinnately veined. Leaves without stipules. Leaf blade margins entire. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Leaf anatomy. Hairs absent. Extra-floral nectaries absent (ass.). Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Entomophilous, or ornithophilous.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers solitary, or aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in umbels (2-flowered). The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary; inflorescence pedunculate or sessile, may have paired axillary flowers. Flowers pedicellate; bracteate (1 per flower, much shorter than flowers); bracteolate (the two bracteoles adnate to form a ‘calyculus’ external to the calyx); regular to somewhat irregular. The floral asymmetry involving the perianth. Flowers cyclic; tetracyclic. Floral receptacle markedly hollowed. Free hypanthium present; adnate to the ovary. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 3–9; 2 -whorled, or 1 -whorled. Calyx present (KPC), or vestigial (A); 1 -whorled; polysepalous, or gamosepalous; entire, or lobed; when not entire, blunt-lobed, or toothed; open in bud; regular; persistent. Corolla present; 6 (unequal); 1 -whorled; gamopetalous; valvate; tubular; unequal but not bilabiate, or bilabiate, or regular; yellow, or red. Corolla lobes narrow. Androecial members definite in number. Androecium 6. Androecial members adnate (to the corolla); all equal; free of one another (ass.); 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 6; all more or less similar in shape (ass.); isomerous with the perianth; alternisepalous (epipetalous). Anthers basifixed; non-versatile; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; bilocular (KP), or four locular (A); bisporangiate, or tetrasporangiate. Gynoecium 3 carpelled, or 4 carpelled. The pistil 1 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious, or eu-syncarpous; inferior. Ovary unilocular; 1 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1. Ovules not differentiated; in the single cavity 1, or 2 (1 or 2 or more); sessile; ascending; non-arillate; not clearly differentiated from the placenta.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit fleshy; indehiscent; a berry, or a drupe; 1 seeded (per cell). Seeds copiously endospermic. Endosperm oily. Seeds covered with viscous material; without a testa. Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2, or 1.

Etymology. From the Greek for "to release, set free"; ‘allusion to the fact that the plant is henceforth set free from the servitude of its identification with Loranthus linophyllus’.