Acacia's with parasites.

[naja naja]

O.k.

Well, I went for a drive the other day and came accross sum/alot of acica's that seem to be heavily infected with sum parasite plant. I have been and seen these tree's several times before, but never noticed any parasite growth. These tree's also fail to set seed on a regular basis or in any decent quantity.

Has any1 else ever noticed parasite growth on acacia's before? Most likey introduced via gaul wasps(theory)? How could this possibly effect seed set if at all? And possible effects on tryptamines within any said acacia's? Maybe produce new tryptamines or lower content of tryptamines? Always cool to see two completely diff flowers off the same tree at any rate.

[MindExpansion]

Mmmm, Hunab and I noticed much of the same thing at the royal national park in sydney.

Lots of them actually, and not just on the acacia's either.

Peace

[gerbil]

One of the mistletoes by the looks of it, very purdy photos, they are really purdy plants / flowers when you get them at their peak.

http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/22797

oh and spread by birdies :D mistletoe birds, but not exclusively.

Edited January 15, 2009 by gerbil

[naja naja]

They were absolutely Jam packed with these mistletoe!

[paradox]

it's very common

[MindExpansion]

Woops might actually be a different thing to what we saw... Hunab?

Peace

[paradox]

mistletoe berries taste delicious aswell. at least the species i've tried. although they have an incredibly sticky little....long thing in them which get stuck in you mouth. i gets stuck in birds beaks, so they have to wipe it off onto a branch with the seed attached ;)

hey gerbil, someone told me once that those mistletoe birds are pretty much the only birds which sit on the branch side ways, so that when they shit it lands on the branch along with the mistletoe seeds. thats pretty interesting if it's true.

it's fascinating to see all the forms each species has evolved into, to blend in with their tree of choice. naja i've often seen the ones you have there (with the long thin leaves) on acacias & you also often see them on Casuarinas.

[gerbil]

lol could be true, never heard that one though

I've mainly heard it with scraping it when it gets stuck to zee arse/beak.

this isn't australia but great photoseries of regurgitation.

http://www.birdinfo.co.za/landbirds/15_tin...s_mistletoe.htm

[Conan Troutman]

lol could be true, never heard that one though

I've mainly heard it with scraping it when it gets stuck to zee arse/beak.

this isn't australia but great photoseries of regurgitation.

http://www.birdinfo.co.za/landbirds/15_tin...s_mistletoe.htm

same shit here in VIC, especially noticable on the 'coastal' trees...

[Chiral]

Woops might actually be a different thing to what we saw... Hunab?

Peace

yeah what we saw was Gauls..fucking littering the shit outta a lot of the acacia we saw in the national park..we pulled a few off and noticed a red oozing sap like substance come out..wonder what it is...?

H.

[mac]

The only parasites i have seen on the local Acacia aneura are a insect type of scale

The mulga apple is an insect gall commonly eaten by Aborignal people. Mulga tree gum (Ngkwarle alkerampwe in the Arrernte language) is a type of lerp scale found on mulga branches. It provides a tasty honey-like treat for Indigneous people.[13]quote from Wiki

im unsure if they effect the trees as they seem healthy seem to be seeding just fing,I have no idea if Acacia aneura is active so cant say if it would effect potency of anything contained in this species

it would be interesting to know if any plant or insect parasites are attracted to active alkaloids in certain plants. anyone know of any ?, or the terms used to describe this phenomenon ? i wouldn't know what terms to search for

Edited January 15, 2009 by mac

[TheFriendlyPlanter]

Just for the record, mistletoes are a key component of many Australian ecosystems often with a far greater level of biodiversity associated with the mistletoe than the host plant itself. This is particularly true for invertebrates and birds that feed upon them.

They do little damage to the tree and also help feed the ants that are responsible for "planting" the host trees seeds in the case of many acacias.

So despite being parasitic plants, they are very important and can be regarded as a good thing not a bad thing.

[mac]

Just for the record, mistletoes are a key component of many Australian ecosystems often with a far greater level of biodiversity associated with the mistletoe than the host plant itself. This is particularly true for invertebrates and birds that feed upon them.

They do little damage to the tree and also help feed the ants that are responsible for "planting" the host trees seeds in the case of many acacias.

So despite being parasitic plants, they are very important and can be regarded as a good thing not a bad thing.

another example the Quandong tree witch is also a parasite feeding from the host trees root system without any damage to the host plant

im sure the insects & birds that are attracted to the fruit of the Quandong would help the host tree in some ways ?

as i said i noticed the ants on the local Acacia aneura seed so this is more a symbiotic relationship?

the red flesh feeds the ants who plant the seed

[paradox]

the native cherry Exocarpus cupressiformis is another example of a parasitic native

[Micromegas]

i'll have to check out the native cherry can you eat em?

mac those red bits are called elaiosomes (sp?) they are packed full of sugars etc. designed to entice dispersers to carry the seed, especially ants in many cases where the seeds are taken underground, this is called directed dispersal and assures the seed travels a fair distance away from the parent. In some places (Christmas Island for example) the argentine ant has muscled in as displaced native ants. Argentine ants do not disperse larger seeds and many of the species reliant on the direct dispersal by ants are now failing to recruit. Funny how something so small...

as for parasites, well quandong and mistletoe are very important ecologically but you can have too much of a good thing. too many misteltoes and you get a dead tree, same goes for qunadongs which can weaken their hosts considerably, for this reason in plantations two hosts are planted to every quandong...

I remember when i first saw mistletoe i posted on the forum asking what are these plants that do crazy things to ends of braches as there were so many of them in the park i was in. found out they were mistletoe and quite important at that for birds etc. and then i also found out that, like most things, too many will create a system out of balance

interesting thread!

[paradox]

yeah the native cherry is edible. pretty nice too. though they have to be pretty ripe other wise they're bitter. the berries are usually yellow, orange or red.

theres another species in my area. i think it's E. strictus which also has edible berries, the berries on this are more an opaque pearly kind of colour. they're generally smaller than E. cupressiformis & i've found these taste better IMO. apparantly all members of the Santalaceae famly are parasitic. or more accurately hemiparasitic.

oh & they're not stricly a berry but more of a drupe i guess....actually i'm not sure what they would be classed as. Exocarpus spp have those interesting fruit (which are common in the Santalaceae family) which has the fruit atached to the side of the seed.

exocarpus cupressiformis fruit