As we hiked in the Malnad region, I came across a creeper with flowers that I had not seen before and took pictures to identify. Found out that it is the Honey Suckle Mistletoe plant. Other common name is Neem mistletoe and in Kannada it is known as Maduk, Badanike, Bandanike, Marabhaksha, in Hindi it is known as Banda, Banda Patha and in Sanskrit it is known as Vrksadani.
The botanical name is Dendrophthoe falcata and belongs to Loranthaceae (Mistletoe) family.
Honey Suckle Mistletoe is a parasite plant with large branches. Thus, the Kannada name Marabhaksha suits this plant very well. Marabhaksha means plant eater.
It grows to a height of 1 to 6 meters high. The bark of the plant is gray and thick at the bottom. The leaves are green, opposite, and are 7 to 15 cm long. The stalk of the leaves are 1 cm long and the main vein is red.
Flowers bloom at the tip of the branches during January and February. The flower buds are long white tubes of 3 to 5 cm. They are either white or pink. The one that I came across was pink. The petals at the tip of the tube are either green or yellow and are upturned.
