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Questions, Answers and Comments by Category
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This is not a rose question or comment but does anyone know if European mistletoe, Viscum album, will grow on Eucalyptus?
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I don't know what sort of mistletoe we have in Western Australia, but the 1973 book 'Flowers and Plants of Western Australia' R. Erickson, Marchant & Morcombe says on p198. Misletoes are parasitic and are often seen on wattles, eucalypts, sheoaks, kurrajongs and Grevilleas. Over 20 species in 5 genera occur in W.A., two of them shown in plates 462 (Amyema fitzgeraldii) and 519 (Lysiana casuarinae)
We have a mistletoe (unknown) here which grows on rhododendrons, but not on the neighboring karri trees, Eucalyptus diversicolour, which drop their bark.
One year I planted seeds of the superb yellow flowered mistletoe tree, Nuytsia floribunda, (locally known as the Christmas Tree) in a sandy area in the bush and put some hosting couch grass in the hole as well. Unfortunately they never germinated.
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Thank you Patricia, in the U.K. I have seen Viscum album growing on many types of tree, but never oak, conifers or Eucalyptus. A lady in the village has a big Eucalyptus gunnii in her garden and she asked me this morning about growing mistletoe on it.
Solstice blessings, Andrew, X
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The internet tells me Eucalyptus gunnii sheds its bark annually. I theeeenk the mistletoe would fall off with the bark.
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Yes you're definitely right, it could never get a toe-hold on a tree with exfoliating bark.
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Don't know about that - most Eucalypts exfoliate, and there are plenty of local mistletoes that have evolved to hang in. The mistletoe bird Dicaeum hirundinaceum, as brightly-coloured as a robin, eats and spreads the seeds: it does a little defaecation dance sideways on a branch , which makes sure ingested seeds land where they can attach.
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Yes, as you say the endemic flora has evolved together, I'm sure a European mistletoe couldn't get a purchase. Do you have a plant called a Love Vine, Cassytha in your area? It's like a giant tropical sort of dodder. I find these types of plant fascinating, do you get broomrapes too?
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Cassythia grows in the eastern states and SE South Australia, but hasn't reached this far. One of the broomrapes is a declared weed in Australia, with the potential for causing serious crop losses. Not in SA yet.
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