Psittacanthus biternatus
Psittacanthus biternatus is a species of mistletoe in the family Loranthaceae, which is native to Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia. Description. Kuijt describes "Psittacanthus biternatus" as having: It is hemiparasitic and has no epicortical roots. "Psittacanthus biternatus" is distinguished from other "Psittacanthus" species by its generally obovate or circular leaves, its axillary inflorescences in the older branches and its main and secondary peduncles being red, and its uncrowned black fruit. It flowers and fruits throughout the year and is pollinated by hummingbirds and dispersed by birds (tyrannids and traupids). It parasites several species of angiosperms, but more frequently "Pouteria  ramiflora", "Byrsonima coccolobifolia" and "B. crassifolia". Distribution. In Brazil, it is found in the Amazon Rainforest, Caatinga, Central Brazilian Savanna, and the Atlantic Rainforest, inhabiting the vegetation types of Caatinga, Amazonian Campinarana, Cerrado, riverine forest and/or gallery forest, Terra Firme Forest, Várzea forest, and coastal forest(Restinga). Taxonomy. "Psittacanthus biternatus" was first described by Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg in 1829 as "Loranthus biternatus", and in 1834, George Don reassigned it to the newly described genus "Psittacanthus". Etymology. "Psittacanthos" comes from the Greek "psittakos" (parrot), and the Greek "anthos" (flower), possibly chosen, according to Don, because of the bright colours. The specific epithet , "biternatus", is the Latin for "twice ternate", which according to Stearn means "each of the three main divisions, being itself divided in three". In this case, it refers to the inflorescence which is an umbel of triads, which is often a pair (see illustration on p 89 of Kuijt).