Nuytsia floribunda
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| Western Australian Christmas tree | ||||||||||||||
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| Nuytsia floribunda (Labill.) R.Br. |
Nuytsia floribunda, commonly known as Western Australian Christmas tree, is a parasitic tree found in Western Australia. It is known for its bright yellow flowers around Christmas time (summer). It can grow to 10m tall. It is a member of the Loranthaceae or mistletoe family. It is named for the seventeenth-century Dutch explorer and colonial official Pieter Nuyts.
It is an obligate, root hemiparasite. It is photosynthetic and mainly obtains water and mineral nutrients from its hosts. The haustoria on the roots of Nuytsia attach themselves to roots of many nearby plants and draw water and therefore nutrients from them. Almost all species are susceptible to attack, haustoria have even been found attached to underground cables. In natural settings Nuytsia withdraws relatively little from each individual host but is attached to so many other plants that the benefit to this parasitic tree is likely to be considerable.
[edit] References
- Calladine, Ainsley and Pate, John S. 2000. Haustorial structure and functioning of the root hemiparastic tree Nuytsia floribunda (Labill.) R.Br. and water relationships with its hosts. Annals of Botany 85: 723-731.
- Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants (ASGAP) Nuytsia floribunda
- "Nuytsia floribunda". FloraBase. Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Western Australia. http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/2401.
- Thomas Göbel: Heilpflanzen gegen Krebs und Psychose, Nuytsia Floribunda und Viscum Album, Betrachtung und Beurteilung zweier polarer Pflanzencharaktere und ihre Anwendungsmöglichkeiten. Verlag Freies Geistesleben, Stuttgart/Germany 2004, ISBN 3772522300 (german language)
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