Tupeia antarctica

The species, Tupeia antarctica (common names - tāpia, kohuorangi, pirinoa, piritia, white mistletoe), is a Diecious mistletoe which grows up to 1m wide. Its bark is white, and the twigs are finely hairy. The leaves are variously shaped, fleshy, bright green and from 10 to 70 mm long. The flowers are tiny and the fruit is white to pinkish.

Habitat. It is found in forest or scrub, on a wide range of hosts including tarata (Pittosporum eugenioides), karo (Pittosporum crassifolium), Coprosma species, putaputaweta (Carpodetus serratus), fivefinger (Pseudopanax arboreus), white maire (Nestegis lanceolata) and broom. According to De Lange et al., Tupeia antarctica parasitises some 48 hosts (11 exotic) with the most common host families being Fabaceae and Rubiaceae.

The genus is named for Tupaia (c. 1725 – 1770), a Tahitian navigator and priest. The specific epithet, antarctica, derives from the Latin word, anti, meaning "against" or "opposite" and the Greek word, arktos, meaning "bear", giving an adjective, antarctica, which meant opposite the constellations of the Ursus Major and Ursus Minor, "opposing the north", or "Antarctic".