Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Santalales R.Br. ex Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Loranthaceae
Genus
Ileostylus Tiegh.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Ileostylus micranthus (Hook.f.) Tiegh. (1894)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Loranthus micranthus Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 100 (1853)
  • = Viscum antarcticum A.Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 2: 208 (1839)
Vernacular Name(s):
Mistletoe (NZ); Pikirangi; Pirinoa; Pirirangi; Pirita; Small-flowered mistletoe
 Description

Bushy glab. shrub up to 1 m. or more diam., attached to host by a ball-like mass up to c. 2 cm. diam., or (more us.) by a stout branch elongate along host. Branches terete; branchlets subancipital. Lvs coriac., opp., on stout petioles up to c. 10 mm. long. Lamina ovate- to elliptic- to obovate-oblong, thick, entire or obscurely crenulate, 2–8 × 1–3 cm. Panicles 10–30 mm. diam.; peduncles and pedicels slender. Fls ± 2.5 mm. long; outer tepals reduced to a truncate rim; inner tepals greenish yellow, 4, narrow-oblong, free to base; anthers basifixed: style short, stout, twisted at middle; stigma lateral, capitate. Fr. bright yellow, ± ellipsoid, viscid, ± 5–8 mm. long.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1 as Loranthus micranthus Hook.f.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
Barlow, B.A. 1966: A revision of the Loranthaceae of Australia and New Zealand. Australian Journal of Botany 14: 421–499.
Cunningham, A. 1839: Florae insularum Novae Zelandiae precursor; or a specimen of the botany of the islands of New Zealand. Annals of Natural History 2: 205–214.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.