Traditional Christmas cards often feature sprigs of English mistletoe with white berries. Aotearoa’s native mistletoes are a much more spectacular sight at Christmas, lighting up southern beech forests with bright clusters of red, scarlet and yellow flowers.

Words Kim Newth  Photos Alan Jolliffe

I was intrigued to learn recently that New Zealand is home to eight living species of native mistletoe. Three of them, our native beech mistletoes, produce the most striking tubular flowers over December and January. Beech mistletoes are not as plentiful as they once were, but apparently Canterbury has some of the largest remaining populations of the endangered red and yellow varieties. Mistletoes are partial parasites, relying on their host trees but also using photosynthesis to fuel growth. Mistletoe roots, called haustoria, penetrate the bark of the host to extract water and nutrients.

Wanting to find out more, I got in touch with Alan Jolliffe, President of the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture, who has captured many beautiful photographs of our native mistletoes in his travels around New Zealand. Alan’s fabulous website, Art and Science of Horticulture, is a cornucopia of information on gardening, plants, and New Zealand flora and fauna. Alan has worn many hats through his long and distinguished career: horticulturist, parks and recreation manager, conservation manager, heritage property manager, as well as university lecturer and senior manager in the tertiary education sector. He has served as Curator of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Nelson and Director of Parks and Recreation Lower Hutt.

At his home in Christchurch, Alan tells me his passion for plants started as a pupil at St Albans School in the 1950s, looking after a small garden plot. Later, in Ōamaru, his parents ran a hothouse business, growing tomatoes before selling up to buy land, used to grow strawberries and cut flowers. Pursuing a career in horticulture was a natural step for Alan, who took up an apprenticeship in horticulture after leaving school.

In his apprenticeship days, Alan would often travel over the Lewis Pass and remembers being told he’d see mistletoe growing in the beech trees there. ‘Every time we went through the pass, I looked up but never saw it there. It wasn’t until I ended up in Cairns on holiday, some 10 or 15 years later, that I finally saw a tree full of mistletoe. That was Australian mistletoe of course, but it reignited my interest in finding it here. The first lot I saw in the wild was at Bealey Spur, near Arthur’s Pass. Luckily, my wife Robyn and I were there at just the right time to see red mistletoe in full flower. It was an absolutely marvellous sight. We often get told that our native plants are not colourful enough, but our beech mistletoe is as colourful as anything you’re going to see internationally and could be a tourist attraction in its own right if there was more of it.’

Whereas red mistletoe most often grows on mountain beech, scarlet mistletoe prefers silver beech and grows at lower altitudes. It also produces a festive summer display, putting out clusters of big scarlet tubular flowers. ‘In The Catlins, it sits high in the trees. We were lucky enough to come across a beech tree branch, blown down by the wind, during a trip there in February 2019. It was full of scarlet mistletoe in full flower. It was great to have a close-up look at the flowers and made it easy to photograph.’

Native yellow mistletoe also flowers through December and January, producing smaller, yellow-orange flowers. Like red mistletoe, mountain beech is a favoured host tree.

New Zealand’s beech mistletoes are sadly in decline, though conservation efforts are making a difference in some areas. Possums and habitat destruction are threats for these beautiful plants, also vulnerable due to their reliance on native birds for pollination and seed dispersal. The ripe flower buds will stay shut, waiting for a nectar-seeking tūī or korimako/bellbird to come along and give them a twist. At that point, the flower will explode open, spraying pollen over the bird for transfer to the next flower, enabling seeds to be produced. Small native bees can trigger the flowers to open too. Native birds also eat the fruit, dispersing the seeds inside. If the seeds land in the right place on a suitable host, they will adhere, germinate and take hold.

Alan’s Tip For Where to Spot Mistletoe This Christmas

‘Arthur’s Pass for the red and yellow ones – you don’t have to go very far up the Bealey Spur Track to see them. You’ll also see yellow ones on the Kepler Track, Te Anau and Lake Rotoiti in Nelson. The scarlet ones are around The Catlins and through Tuatapere, where you’ll often see them growing in trees by the road.’

As Alan observes, there’s a potent message here about the interconnectedness of our forest plants and birds. One of our native mistletoes, Adam’s mistletoe, went extinct fairly recently, within living memory, having last been seen in 1954. ‘We need to be looking after nature in general – the forest environment and birdlife, with predator control a big part of that equation.’

On the other hand, native green mistletoe grows anywhere and everywhere in New Zealand. Its tiny green flowers are not showy but birds love the yellow fruit. Alan has seen it growing atop Frog Rock in the Weka Pass and around Otago Harbour.

The native white mistletoe Tupeia antarctica is striking for its profusion of attractive white or pink fruit. One spot where Alan has seen it fruiting abundantly is in Akaroa, but he says it also fruits well around Dunedin and parts of the North Island.

New Zealand’s three dwarf mistletoe species are very hard to spot, though Alan managed to photograph one of them – Korthalsella lindsayi – in Riccarton Bush, Christchurch in June 2022.

Alan’s passion for horticulture, plant education and research continues to drive him in his current role at the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture (RNZIH). The RNZIH set up the RNZIH Education Trust, which runs the Young Horticulturist of the Year competition; the New Zealand Gardens Trust that promotes the best in New Zealand gardens and horticulture; and helped set up the New Zealand Notable Trees Trust (NZNTT) that registers heritage trees and currently holds more than 1,700 records. The institute has extensive online resources and a digital archive, providing a treasure trove of information.

The Many Shades of Mistletoe

Red Mistletoe, pikirangi, pirita, roeroe, pirinoa

Peraxilla tetrapetala produces beautiful red tubular flowers in December and January. Shrub-like, it grows on the inner branches of mountain beech, other New Zealand beech trees and other host trees. The distinctive blistered leaves are a good way to identify it.

Scarlet Mistletoe, korukoru, pirita, roeroe

In full flower, Peraxilla colensoi is the star of the show with clusters of scarlet flowers growing on their preferred silver beech host. ‘Colensoi’ refers to William Colenso (1811–1899), who came to New Zealand as a printer and later became a botanist and explorer.

Yellow Mistletoe, pirita, piriraki

Alepis flavida grows tubular yellow-orange flowers and is mainly found on the outer branches of mountain beech and other New Zealand beech trees. The oval green leaves have a reddish margin.

Green Mistletoe, pirita

Ileostylus micranthus is not threatened, not choosy as to host and can be found throughout coastal and lowland New Zealand. It grows clusters of very small green flowers and produces an orange-yellow fruit.

White Mistletoe, tāpia, pirita, tupia, kohurangi

Found in forest, scrub and revegetating areas on a wide range of hosts across New Zealand, Tupeia antarctica is a small shrubby hemiparasite that produces attractive, small, white or pink fruits. It is named after the Polynesian navigator Tupaia.