Recent mistletoe news from New Zealand makes an interesting comparison to mistletoe conservation concerns here in Britain. Down there they’ve had several native mistletoe crises in recent years, last mentioned (briefly) in this blog way back in 2005.
The news then was about mistletoe conservation efforts on North Island – where the problems were invasive weeds and over-browsing by possums. Efforts seemed to largely be tree-planting and weed-clearing. The original news story is still available here.
The more recent story, dated 30th January 2011, is on South Island, where conservation efforts have, again, been largely pest control, but where the mistletoe is at the top of 100 year old beech trees (there’s a video here).
And it’s one of those loranthaceous types, with pretty flowers. Very different to ours, with its tiny green flowers – I’ll be saying more about those soon…