You'll often notice mistletoes attached to trees at Fowlers Gap. These can be confusing at first: "I didn't know mulgas had such pretty flowers!". There are numerous parasitic plants occurring around Fowlers Gap, but the harlequin mistletoe is probably the most recognisable.

Host species include members of the Acacia, Casuarina, Eremophila, Eucalyptus, Exocarpos, Myoporum, Santalum and Senna. Often a particular mistletoe is adapted to resemble its host. This example comes from Mount Brown near Milparinka, but they also commonly occur at Fowlers Gap. The mulga shown is heavily parasitised (the healthy green-looking bunches) and looks very sick, Eventually the mistletoe will overwhelm the tree and kill it. Mistletoes are important habitat for small bird species. They are spread by birds (particularly the "mistletoe bird") which wipe their bottoms on new hosts to rid themselves of the sticky seeds. The seeds rapidly germinate and attach themselves to the host's sapwood. You can probably guess that they are fascinating!

Bark: hairless drooping branches attached to a host plant.
Leaves: opposite, glabrous, variable in shape, 3-15 cm long and 1-10 mm wide, not thick, curved and narrowing towards the base.
Flowers: occur in pairs or triplets on a very short common stalk. Buds are tubular and curved, 25-50 mm long, swollen in the middle, comprising 6 yellow or red segments when open. Corolla red (rarely yellow) , usually green-tipped (rarely black)
Fruit: ellipse- to egg-shaped, red or black, 6-10 mm long and sticky when ripe.
Source: Frank Kutsche and Brendan Lay (2003). Field guide to the plants of outback South Australia. Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation, South Australia, ISBN 0 7590 1052 8.
Phillip Moore (2005). A guide to plants of inland Australia. Reed New Holland, ISBN 1 876334 86 X.
Photos: Ian Roach

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