Times of the Islands Winter 2016/17

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green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources The red and black berries of mistletoe plants from South Caicos have confirmed their identity as Dendropemon elegans, formerly considered a species endemic to mountains on Hispaniola. On South Caicos it mainly parasitizes black-bead Pithecellobium dulce. Under the Mistletoe . . . This unusual plant is not as “romantic” as it would seem. Story & Photos By B Naqqi Manco, TCI Naturalist “Ugh, it’s like evaporating rubber cement,” I lamented, scraping the mucilaginous liquid off my fingers onto the twig of a pink poui tree, “No wonder I could never get it to work before—I was doing it wrong all these years.” Botanist Marcos Caraballo was teaching me how to plant the sticky seeds of mistletoe—specifically Caribbean smooth mistletoe Dendropemon purpureus. Found only on islands in the Caribbean basin, this species is widespread but only common in small localities, one of those being in the Northwest Point area of Providenciales. 30 www.timespub.tc
green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources Most people associate mistletoe with winter and Christmas time, hanging sprigs of it, real or artificial, in doorways to instigate the tradition of kissing under it. This tradition dates back so far that its beginnings are lost to history, but there was formerly a tradition that after each kiss, one berry was removed until none were left, at which point the kissing stopped. Tradition also dictates that it is bad luck to refuse a kiss under mistletoe. But mistletoe in the Turks & Caicos Islands? At least three species of this strange group of plants make their homes here, taking advantage not only of the tropical climate and abundant migratory bird seed dispersers, but also of the diversity of host plants. Mistletoes are parasites. They do not grow in the ground as most plants do. They grow on the branches of other trees and shrubs—but unlike the orchids and air plants which are epiphytes (which merely use other trees as a perch and take nothing from them), mistletoes worm their roots through the bark of their host trees and shrubs and help themselves to the liquids they find inside. Absorbing these liquids, most mistletoes use them to help make their own food. Typically, mistletoes have green leaves and chlorophyll, and so photosynthesize to produce sugar. All three of our known species in TCI live in this way. There are other species that only make their own food early in life, including a parasite on pine trees in Hispaniola’s mountains and one on cacti in Peruvian deserts which live their lives entirely inside their hosts, only spearing outside to flower and fruit and bearing no leaves or green stems of their own. Some species overtake and can even weaken their host plant to the point of death. The benefit of this to the mistletoe is unknown, since it also dies with the host—but it may be that such heavy infestations on one tree are entirely accidental and not deliberate. Our TCI species may weaken a tree, as is suggested by the generic name of smooth mistletoe—Dendropemon arises from dendro (tree) and pemon (injurious). They are more common among the three to five families of plants (genetic evidence suggests they all evolved separately) that make up the mistletoe group: they do not tend to be injurious enough to kill the host; they just grow as a small, shrubby cluster of rubbery foliage that looks like a misplaced branch of another tree. From top: The fully black berries on most TCI mistletoes identifies them as the common Caribbean smooth mistletoe Dendropemon purpureus. The fruit colour is variable throughout its Caribbean range, and it may end up being split into several species by botanists. A shrub in a tree—this Caribbean smooth mistletoe Dendropemon purpureus is parasitizing a five-fingers Tabebuia bahamensis in North Caicos. Like the talons of a raptor, the roots of this Caribbean smooth mistletoe Dendropemon purpureus grip and penetrate its host plant, drawing out water and nutrients. Times of the Islands Winter 2016/17 31
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Times of the Islands Winter 2016/17

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