Loranthus

Description:

Parasitic plants. Simple leaf. It has swollen structure in the area between stem base and host plant, forming crown gall like structure. This plant grows on numerous species, such as mango (Mangifera indica), Lagerstroemia speciosa, Paraserianthe falcataria, etc. and one of the most parasitic plants in the world.

Habitat:

Parasitic on branches of woody plants.

Notes:

This is the most interesting species due to their parasitic habit and dispersal mechanism which involving birds (ornitochory) and some mammals. The mature seed are covered by carp and the sweet mucoid material. This mucoid like structure is edible (I've eaten it long time ago and the taste are amazing!). Beside that, massive presence of this species on a trees can cause death and sometime make the host plants look-like a big Loranthus because the leafs are very dominant covering host's plants leaves.