Amyema benthamii
{{Short description|Species of epiphyte}}
{{speciesbox
|image = Amyema benthamii 167107058.jpg
|genus = Amyema
|species = benthamii
|range_map=Amyemabenthamii.png
|range_map_caption=Collections data for A. benthamii from the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
|authority = (Blakely) Danser.{{APNI | name=Amyema benthamii| id=32923 }}
}}
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. 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.{{cite book|author=Watson, David M.|title=Mistletoes of Southern Australia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5dsPwqaejoC&pg=PA24 |year=2011 |publisher=Csiro Publishing|isbn=978-0-643-10225-5 |pages=24–25}}
Description
This mistletoe has slender stems with opposite pairs of sessile (unstalked), semi-clasping, bluish-green leaves about {{convert|2|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} 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.
Taxonomy
The species was first described in 1922 as Loranthus benthamii by William Blakely,{{APNI2|id=100404|name=Loranthus benthamii}}{{cite journal|author=Blakely, W.F. |date=1922|title= The Loranthaceae of Australia. Part III|journal= Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales|volume= 47|issue=4|pages= 393|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35116894}} but was reassigned to the genus, Amyema, by Benedictus Hubertus Danser in 1929.{{cite journal|author=Danser, B.H. |date=1929|title= On the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Loranthaceae of Asia and Australia|journal= Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg |series=Série 3|volume= 10|issue=3|pages= 294}}
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.
References
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{{Taxonbar|from=Q15377875|from2=Q91137696}}
Category:Eudicots of Western Australia
Category:Flora of the Northern Territory