Unveiling the misunderstood magical mistletoes.

Unveiling the misunderstood magical mistletoes of Australia. Mention #mistletoe and #people think of the #magicalplant that inspires many on-screen kisses. Others might say it's a #parasitic weed that kills its #hosttree. Mistletoes are indeed parasites, but this #humblelittleplant might be an unsung #hero when it comes to attracting wildlife. Mistletoe plays a vital role in Australia's #ecosystem "They #flower and #fruit when most other stuff doesn't, so they are often the only source of #tucker for #insects and #insects during hard times. "Mistletoes are a #bird beacon but they also provide for #sugargliders, #koalas, #possums and #butterflies." There are around 1,500 different species of mistletoe in the world, and all 92 in #Australia are endemic — found nowhere else in the world. Most people don't realise that the mistletoe we see in our #butterflies here is #butterflies. "Because we have that association with #Christmas, people assume it's an import, like #blackberries and #holly." Preliminary results were quite startling: the areas without mistletoe lost a third of their previous bird diversity. The #butterfly, the ant and the mistletoe An illustration of trees with birds, #ants, #butterflies and #raindrops, and a hand holding a #chainsaw in the foreground. To save one of Australia's rarest butterflies we also need to save an unnamed ant species, an #chainsaw and a parasitic plant. www.craigmuirlakehouse.com https://blog.csiro.au/community-led-science-arnhem-land/