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Amyema benthamii, commonly known as the twin-leaved mistletoe or Bentham's mistletoe, is a species of flowering plant, an epiphytic hemiparasitic plant of the family Loranthaceae native to Western Australia and the Northern Territory of Australia in semi-arid woodland.[2] This species is named in honour of the English botanist George Bentham who between 1863 and 1878 published Flora Australiensis, the first flora of Australia.[3]

Amyema benthamii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Santalales
Family:	Loranthaceae
Genus:	Amyema
Species:	A. benthamii
Binomial name
Amyema benthamii (Blakely) Danser.[1]
Collections data for A. benthamii from the Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Description

This mistletoe has slender stems with opposite pairs of sessile (unstalked), semi-clasping, bluish-green leaves about 2 cm (0.8 in) long. The flowers, which have reddish-brown stalks, are borne in the axils of the leaves in dangling groups of three; the buds are reddish-purple with green bases and tips, and open to reveal pale green petals and a projecting boss of stamens. It has a sparse, open habit of growth.[3]

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1922 as Loranthus benthamii by William Blakely,[4][5] but was reassigned to the genus, Amyema, by Benedictus Hubertus Danser in 1929.[1][6]

Ecology

A. benthamii has been recorded as growing on thirty-one different species of host plant from eighteen different plant families. The most frequently used host is the bottletree (Brachychiton spp.), but other common hosts include Owenia and Acacia.[3]

References

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