Peraxilla tetrapetala, or red mistletoe

Mistletoe

Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemi-parasitic plants in several families in the order Santalales. The plants in question grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub.-Mistletoe in the genus Viscum:...

, is an endemic

Endemic (ecology)

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...

 parasitic plant in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The Maori names for the plant are pikirangi, pirirangi and roeroe.

It is a shrub up to one metre tall with glabrous leaves. The flowers are 4-5 mm long, bright red to orange in colour which split open to the base. Red mistletoe is found as a parasitic

Parasitism

Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...

 plant on Quintinia and Nothofagus

Nothofagus

Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 35 species of trees and shrubs native to the temperate oceanic to tropical Southern Hemisphere in southern South America and Australasia...

species.

Conservation

The plant is highly palatable to the introduced Common Brushtail Possum

Common Brushtail Possum (New Zealand)

The Common Brushtail Possum is a major agricultural and conservation pest in New Zealand. It also goes by the name Paihamu.-Introduction by European settlers:...

 resulting in a threat to the plant population.

Red mistletoe is listed as in "Gradual Decline" in the New Zealand Threat Classification System

New Zealand Threat Classification System

The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand....

 and relies on conservation measures to halt the decline.

External links

• Department of Conservation - mistletoe page
• University of Canterbury - mistletoe photographs