Dendrophthoe falcata (Dendrophthoe falcata)
Description
Dendrophthoe falcata is one of the hemiparasitic plants that belong to the Loranthaceae family of mistletoes. It is the most common of all the mistletoes that occur in India. At the moment reports say that it has around 401 plant hosts. The genus Dendrophthoe comprises about 31 species spread across tropical Africa, Asia, and Australia (Flora of China, 2003) among which 7 species are found in India. D.falcata bears grey barks, thick coriaceous leaves variable in shape with stout flowers (Wealth of India. 2002). The flowering inflorescences in D.falcata was previously referred to as axillary or as one developing on the scars of fallen leaves, but Y.P.S Pundir (1996) verified it to be of strictly cauliflorous nature and also notified that it shares fundamental similarity to that of Ficus glomerata, F. pomifera and F. hispida. Two of its varieties are widespread in India namely, var. falcata (honey suckled mistletoe) and var. coccinea (red honey suckled mistletoe) distinguished by occurrence of white and red flowering, respectively (Flowers of India). To date, D.falcata represents the only known mistletoe with the largest global host range (Calvin and Wilson, 2009) which is continuously and rapidly widening.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Santalales
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Family: Loranthaceae
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Genus: Dendrophthoe
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