However, it's suffered a 90 per cent decline over recent years. The Western Australian Christmas tree ( Nuytsia floribunda), known for its stunning bright orange flowers, is possibly the largest parasite in the world.Mistletoe are over 30 million years old and fossil records suggest they originate from the part of Australia that was attached to Gondwana.( Wikimedia Commons: Duncan McCaskill (CC by 3.0)) Mistletoe provides food and shelter for all sorts of bugs, animals and birds like the mistletoe bird. While it's too early to tell what the long-term impact on biodiversity might be, Ms Harrison says they have certainly seen lorikeets active in flowering mistletoe within the city, which is a great start. "We had a pretty good germination rate, but the long term will be interesting," Ms Harrison says. Most of the 800 seeds installed on 28 trees germinated, and Lee predicts about 10 per cent of them will survive. Seeds were placed on the underside of the branches "where the dew collects" and the team experimented by using branches facing north, south, east and west to see what works best. "That's what the team did, heading up into the crowns of trees in cherry pickers, squeezing the seeds out of the fruits and wiping them onto the branch!" Ms Harrison explains. Because it is so sticky, the bird literally wipes its bum on the branch to dislodge it. Most of the seed-spreading is done by the mistletoe bird, which passes the seed of the fruit just 15-20 minutes after eating the fruit. Mistletoes produce nutritious fruit, which is eaten by birds, koalas, sugar gliders and possums.
The logistics of seeding the trees in 2017 was a bit of an experiment, says Ms Harrison. But in Melbourne, the council team chose creeping mistletoe, Muellerina eucalyptoides, which grows happily on a range of non-native trees. Mistletoe species are generally associated with a specific host tree, often mimicking the foliage of the host. There are around 1,500 different species of mistletoe in the world, and all 92 in Australia are endemic - found nowhere else in the world.ĭr Watson says many birds prefer to nest in mistletoe because it provides dense shade and cover "which is important in a setting like Melbourne where many of the large urban trees are deciduous". "Mistletoes are a bird beacon but they also provide for sugar gliders, koalas, possums and butterflies." "They flower and fruit when most other stuff doesn't, so they are often the only source of tucker for insects and animals during hard times. "They punch well above their weight in the biodiversity stakes," says David Watson, a plant biologist from Charles Sturt University. Mistletoe plays a vital role in Australia's ecosystem This is why ecologist Lee Harrison persuaded Melbourne City Council to plant 800 mistletoe seeds in perfectly healthy street trees around the inner city and CBD. Mistletoes are indeed parasites, but this humble little plant might be an unsung hero when it comes to attracting wildlife. Others might say it's a parasitic weed that kills its host tree. Mention mistletoe and people think of the magical plant that inspires many on-screen kisses.
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