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Peraxilla tetrapetala
Peraxilla tetrapetala, commonly known as red mistletoe, is a parasitic plant in the family Loranthaceae, endemic to New Zealand and found on both the North and South Islands. The Māori names for the plant are pikirangi, pirirangi and roeroe. It is a shrub up to one metre tall with glabrous leaves. The flowers are 4–5 mm long, bright red to orange in colour which split open to the base.
P. tetrapetala is an obligate stem hemiparasite, meaning that it can only complete its lifecycle by growing on stems of a host species and drawing moisture and nutrients from the host, but that it also produces its own food through photosynthesis with its evergreen leaves. Red mistletoe mainly parasitises Quintinia and Nothofagus species. Its principal host is the black/mountain beech (Nothofagus solandri complex).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Peraxilla tetrapetala by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
