Community Relations Ranger Anna McKnight is on the hunt for the rare white mistletoe, or to be more precise a photo of her favourite plant flowering.

I am crazy in love with the rare white mistletoe Tupeia Antarctica. I am looking for a photo of the flowers of my beloved, and am hoping other people who have fallen for the white mistletoe have taken a close up photo (or any photo at all) of these flowers.

The berry of the white mistletoe

Falling in love with mistletoes is easy! They are hemi–parasitic plants, this means they use specially adapted roots to extract water and nutrients from the stem tissues of their host plant, but also produce their own energy through photosynthetic green leaves. Mistletoes rarely harm their host tree in New Zealand.

White mistletoe in a host tree

I think we should start a tradition here in NZ of kissing under the mistletoe like they do in the Northern Hemisphere at Christmas time! In NZ the yellow – green flowers of the white mistletoe flower from October to December (which is why I missed them) and white to pink fleshy fruit from December to March.

Jean Stanley of the Pukawa Wildlife Trust helps protect the mistletoe from possums

I’m making an interpretation sign for a community called Pukawa at the bottom of Lake Taupō who are protecting this rare plant by trapping possums who love to eat the fruit. They also trap rats and stoats, which is great, as native birds play an important role in seed dispersal of the white mistletoe.

Ranger Anna blowing a ‘mistletoe’ kiss

If you have any photos of this flower, or know of somewhere I might be able to find them please email me at amcknight@doc.govt.nz.