Cuscuta epithymum |
Cuscuta exaltata |
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clover dodder, common dodder, thyme dodder |
tall dodder |
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Stems | greenish yellow to purple, spotted, coarse. |
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Inflorescences | spikes, racemes, or loose panicles with 1–3(–5)-flowered cymes, flowers sessile or short-pedicellate; bracts at base of clusters and pedicels 1, ovate, margins entire, apex obtuse. |
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Pedicels | 0–2 mm. |
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Flowers | 5-merous, 4–5 mm, thick and fleshy, not papillate; calyx yellow-brown, globose-campanulate, equaling corolla tube length, divided 2/3 its length, not reticulate or shiny, lobes ovate to orbiculate, bases overlapping, margins entire, partly hyaline, midvein sometimes ± carinate or thickened, apex rounded; corolla white, drying yellow-brown, 3.8–4.8 mm, tube cylindric-campanulate, 2.8–3.5 mm, not saccate, lobes erect to spreading, ovate to suborbiculate, 1/4–1/3 tube length, margins entire, apex rounded; infrastaminal scales oblong to ovate, 1.5–2 mm, 1/2–2/3 corolla tube length, bridged at 0.5–1 mm, 2-fid or with coarse fimbriae distally, 0.1–0.4 mm; stamens included, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.1–0.3 mm; anthers 0.3–0.5 × 0.3–0.5 mm; styles 1, sometimes distally 2-fid or separating into 2 when pulled apart, 1–1.2 mm, ± equaling or longer than ovary, longer than stigmas; stigmas depressed-globose, 0.1–0.5 mm. |
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Capsules | globose-ovoid to conic, 5–7(–10) × 3–5(–6) mm, not translucent, capped by withered corolla. |
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Seeds | 4, angled, broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid or obovoid, 3–3.9 × 2.2–2.5 mm, hilum area lateral. |
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Cuscuta epithymum |
Cuscuta exaltata |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Oct. | |
Habitat | Hosts: Diospyros, Juglans, Quercus, Rhus, Ulmus, Vitis, and other woody plants. | |
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) | |
Distribution |
FL; TX |
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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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. |
Parent taxa | Convolvulaceae > Cuscuta > subg. Cuscuta | Convolvulaceae > Cuscuta > subg. Monogynella |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. europaea var. epithymum | |
Name authority | (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Amoen. Acad. 4: 478. (1759) — (as epithym.) | Engelmann: Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 1: 513. (1859) |
Web links |
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