Cuscuta indecora |
Cuscuta exaltata |
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big seed alfalfa dodder, collared dodder, inelegant dodder, large-seed dodder |
tall dodder |
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Stems | yellow to orange, slender to medium. |
greenish yellow to purple, spotted, coarse. |
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Inflorescences | loose to dense, paniculiform or corymbiform, sometimes originating endogenously; bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 0 or 1, ovate to lanceolate, membranous, margins entire, apex acute. |
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 | 0.5–6 mm, usually papillate. |
0–2 mm. |
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Flowers | 5-merous, 3–4.5(–5.3) mm, fleshy, perianth cells convex, domelike, perianth and ovary usually papillate; calyx creamy yellow to brownish, cupulate, 1/2–3/4 or longer than corolla tube length, divided 1/3–2/3 its length, not reticulate or shiny, lobes triangular-ovate to lanceolate, bases overlapping or not, margins entire, midvein not carinate, apex acute to attenuate; corolla white, drying creamy yellow to dark brown, 2.5–4(–5) mm, tube campanulate to campanulate-cylindric, becoming subglobose or urceolate, 1.7–3 mm, not saccate, lobes suberect to erect, triangular-ovate, 1/3 to equaling corolla tube length, margins entire, apex acute, inflexed; infrastaminal scales subspatulate to spatulate, 1.7–3 mm, equaling corolla tube length, bridged at 0.3–0.9 mm, usually rounded, rarely truncate or 2 or 3(or 4)-lobed, uniformly densely fimbriate, fimbriae 0.4–0.7 mm; stamens barely exserted or included, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.3–0.7 mm; anthers 0.3–0.8 × 0.2–0.5 mm; styles filiform, 1–2.5 mm, equaling ovary. |
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 to subglobose, 2–3.5 × 1.9–4(–5) mm, thickened and raised around relatively mid-sized interstylar aperture, translucent, surrounded or capped by withered corolla, indehiscent. |
globose-ovoid to conic, 5–7(–10) × 3–5(–6) mm, not translucent, capped by withered corolla. |
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Seeds | 2–4, shape heterogeneous on same plant: obcompressed to weakly angled, broadly ellipsoid to transversely oblique, 1.4–1.8 × 1.2–1.6 mm, hilum region usually subterminal, rarely almost terminal. |
4, angled, broadly ellipsoid to ellipsoid or obovoid, 3–3.9 × 2.2–2.5 mm, hilum area lateral. |
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Cuscuta indecora |
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 |
North America; Mexico; South America; West Indies
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FL; TX |
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Cuscuta indecora is closely related to C. coryli; it differs by its usually five-merous, larger flowers, uniformly densely fimbriate infrastaminal scales, and more or less translucent, globose to subglobose capsules. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Convolvulaceae > Cuscuta > subg. Grammica | Convolvulaceae > Cuscuta > subg. Monogynella | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Name authority | Choisy: Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 9: 278, plate 3, fig. 3. (1842) | Engelmann: Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 1: 513. (1859) | ||||||||
Web links |