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clover dodder, common dodder, thyme dodder

California dodder, chaparral dodder

Stems

yellow to orange, medium.

Inflorescences

dense, paniculiform-corymbiform or glomerulate;

bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 0 or 1, ovate to lanceolate, membranous, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate.

Pedicels

(0.5–)1–2.5 mm, sometimes papillate.

Flowers

5-merous, 3–5(–5.5) mm, membranous or fleshy at base (receptacle and calyx base), not papillate, or receptacle, calyx, and corolla papillate;

calyx yellow, turbinate-campanulate, 3/4 to equaling corolla tube length, divided 1/2–2/3 its length, finely reticulate, shiny, lobes triangular-ovate to lanceolate, bases overlapping, margins entire, midvein not carinate, apex acute to acuminate;

corolla white, drying creamy white, 3–5 mm, tube cylindric-campanulate to obconic, 1.6–2.4 mm, not saccate or with horizontal ridges between stamen attachments, lobes reflexed, narrowly lanceolate, equaling or longer than corolla tube length, margins entire, apex acute, straight;

infrastaminal scales absent;

stamens exserted, shorter than corolla lobes;

filaments 0.6–1.1 mm;

anthers 0.6–1 × 0.3–0.5 mm;

styles filiform, 1.2–2.2 mm, equaling or longer than ovary.

Capsules

globose, depressed-globose, or ovoid-conic, sometimes apically pointed, 1.5–2.2 × 1.8–2.5 mm, not thickened around relatively small interstylar aperture, interstylar aperture sometimes ± visible, not translucent, completely surrounded by, not capped by, withered corolla, indehiscent.

Seeds

1–4, obcompressed, broadly ellipsoid to obovoid, 0.9–1.4 × 0.8–1.2 mm, papillate, hilum region lateral.

Cuscuta epithymum

Cuscuta californica

Distribution
from USDA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
w United States; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties (subspecies) 2 (1 in the flora): introduced; Europe; introduced also in Mexico, South America, Asia, s Africa, Australia.

Cuscuta epithymum subsp. kotschyi (Des Moulins) Arcangeli grows in southern Europe.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Capsules ovoid-conic; seeds 1.
var. apiculata
1. Capsules globose to depressed-globose; seeds (1 or)2–4.
→ 2
2. Pedicels not papillate; flowers not papillate.
var. californica
2. Pedicels papillate; flowers papillate.
var. papillosa
Source FNA vol. 14. FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Convolvulaceae > Cuscuta > subg. Cuscuta Convolvulaceae > Cuscuta > subg. Grammica
Sibling taxa
C. americana, C. approximata, C. azteca, C. boldinghii, C. brachycalyx, C. californica, C. campestris, C. cephalanthi, C. chinensis, C. compacta, C. coryli, C. cuspidata, C. dentatasquamata, C. denticulata, C. draconella, C. epilinum, C. erosa, C. europaea, C. exaltata, C. glabrior, C. glomerata, C. gronovii, C. harperi, C. howelliana, C. indecora, C. japonica, C. jepsonii, C. legitima, C. leptantha, C. liliputana, C. mitriformis, C. nevadensis, C. obtusiflora, C. occidentalis, C. odontolepis, C. pacifica, C. pentagona, C. plattensis, C. polygonorum, C. rostrata, C. runyonii, C. salina, C. squamata, C. suaveolens, C. subinclusa, C. suksdorfii, C. tuberculata, C. umbellata, C. umbrosa, C. warneri
C. americana, C. approximata, C. azteca, C. boldinghii, C. brachycalyx, C. campestris, C. cephalanthi, C. chinensis, C. compacta, C. coryli, C. cuspidata, C. dentatasquamata, C. denticulata, C. draconella, C. epilinum, C. epithymum, C. erosa, C. europaea, C. exaltata, C. glabrior, C. glomerata, C. gronovii, C. harperi, C. howelliana, C. indecora, C. japonica, C. jepsonii, C. legitima, C. leptantha, C. liliputana, C. mitriformis, C. nevadensis, C. obtusiflora, C. occidentalis, C. odontolepis, C. pacifica, C. pentagona, C. plattensis, C. polygonorum, C. rostrata, C. runyonii, C. salina, C. squamata, C. suaveolens, C. subinclusa, C. suksdorfii, C. tuberculata, C. umbellata, C. umbrosa, C. warneri
Subordinate taxa
C. epithymum var. epithymum
C. californica var. apiculata, C. californica var. californica, C. californica var. papillosa
Synonyms C. europaea var. epithymum
Name authority (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Amoen. Acad. 4: 478. (1759) — (as epithym.) Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 364. (1839)
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