Cuscuta indecora |
Cuscuta japonica |
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big seed alfalfa dodder, collared dodder, inelegant dodder, large-seed dodder |
Japanese dodder |
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Stems | yellow to orange, slender to medium. |
yellow-orange, often with purple spots, medium to 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(–7)-flowered cymes, flowers sessile or subsessile; bracts at base of clusters and flowers 1(or 2), broadly ovate, membranous, margins entire, apex obtuse. |
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Pedicels | 0.5–6 mm, usually papillate. |
0–1 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, 3–7 mm, fleshy, not papillate; calyx creamy white, drying yellow-brown, cupulate, 1/3–1/2 corolla tube length, divided 2/3 its length, not reticulate or shiny, lobes orbiculate to ovate, bases overlapping, margins entire, not partly hyaline, midvein carinate or not, apex acute to obtuse; corolla greenish white to pink, drying creamy yellow, 2.6–6.8 mm, tube cylindric, 2–4.3 mm, not saccate, lobes erect to spreading, ovate to ovate-triangular, 1/3–1/2 tube length, margins irregularly crenulate or entire, apex rounded to obtuse; infrastaminal scales oblong to ovate, 1.8–2.8 mm, 1/2 to equaling corolla tube length, bridged at 0.4–0.1 mm, rounded, with dense, thin fimbriae, 0.1–0.3 mm on margins; stamens included, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0–0.1 mm; anthers 0.6–1.1 × 0.5–0.7 mm; styles 1, not distally 2-fid or separable, 1–1.6 mm, equaling or longer than ovary, longer than stigma; stigmas globose, ellipsoid, ovoid, obovoid, conic, or ± cuboid, 0.1–0.6 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. |
ovoid to helmet-shaped, 4.5–5.5(–7) × 3–3.6(–5) 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. |
1–3, broadly ellipsoid to obovoid, slightly obcompressed, 2.5–2.8 × 1.1–1.7 mm, hilum region terminal. |
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Cuscuta indecora |
Cuscuta japonica |
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Distribution |
North America; Mexico; South America; West Indies
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e Asia [Introduced in North America] |
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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.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (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) | Choisy in H. Zollinger: Syst. Verz. 2: 134. (1854) | ||||||||||||
Web links |