Description: Glabrous shrubs, erect or pendent, internodes terete or successively flattened alternately, ridged or furrowed longitudinally.
Leaves present or apparently absent (reduced to small scales).
Inflorescence axillary [or terminal], a sessile or pedunculate cyme of 3 (1–5) flowers subtended by a boat-shaped pair of bracts; plants monoecious [or dioecious], when monoecious with either male or female flowers in the central cymes. Male flower 2–4-merous, with an ovoid anther sessile on each tepal; anthers many-locular. Female flower 2–4-merous; tepals caducous after anthesis.
Fruit globose or ellipsoid, smooth or warty; stigma persistent as a very small nipple at the apex.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 100 spp., mainly in Madag., Afr., & S Asia extending to Eur. & Aust. Aust.: 4 spp. (2 spp. endemic). Qld, N.S.W., Vic., N.T., W.A.
Text by A. L. Quirico
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Viscum articulatum |
|
