Kiss of life for threatened mistletoe

By ELEANOR BLACK

If your idea of Christmas romance is a stolen smooch under the mistletoe, think again.

Department of Conservation staff are asking home decorators who aim for the natural look to leave the threatened semi-parasitic plant in its proper place - hanging off five-finger and lucerne trees.

The Bay of Plenty conservancy is going a step further, surveying the population of green mistletoe scattered mostly around the Rotorua lakes on private property and asking land owners to help keep them safe from possums.

Native green mistletoes (Tupeia antarctica and Ileostylus micranthus) are a favourite treat for possums, who strip leaves off the plants and consume seeds which would otherwise be dispersed by tui and other native birds. DoC will provide aluminium sheeting to landowners willing to band the trees on their property which play host to mistletoe. "It's a stopgap measure, really," admitted DoC botanist Paul Cashmore.

To make a significant contribution to the plant's survival, possums would need to be poisoned in large numbers.

John Hobbs, a botanist working for DoC over summer, will visit between 50 and 100 properties where mistletoe is known to grow.

"We know there are more populations out there we haven't found and would really like to catch up with people who suspect they have plants on their property," said Mr Cashmore.

Beech mistletoe, which produces big, red flowers and can be found in the Whirinaki Forest Park and Te Urewera National Park, is also threatened but is not at the mercy of possums to the same extent as green mistletoe.