Cuscuta pentagona |
Cuscuta indecora |
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bush-clover dodder, field dodder, five-angle dodder, western field dodder |
big seed alfalfa dodder, collared dodder, inelegant dodder, large-seed dodder |
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Stems | yellow to orange, slender to medium. |
yellow to orange, slender to medium. |
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Inflorescences | dense, corymbiform to glomerulate; bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 0 or 1, ovate or ovate-triangular to lanceolate, membranous, margins entire, apex acute. |
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. |
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Pedicels | 0.5–3(–4.5) mm. |
0.5–6 mm, usually papillate. |
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Flowers | (4 or)5-merous, 1.4–2.5 mm, membranous, corolla lobes sometimes papillate; calyx yellow to brown, angled, cupulate, equaling corolla tube length, divided 1/2–2/3 its length, ± reticulate, shiny or not, lobes broadly ovate to rhombic, base auriculate, overlapping, forming prominent angles at sinuses, margins entire, midvein not carinate, without multicellular protuberances, apex rounded; corolla whitish, drying yellow to brown, 1.2–2.2 mm, tube campanulate, 0.7–1.2 mm, not saccate, lobes spreading, triangular-lanceolate, equaling corolla tube length, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, inflexed; infrastaminal scales ovate to oblong, 0.7–1.4 mm, equaling or longer than corolla tube length, bridged at 0.3–0.5 mm, rounded, ± uniformly densely fimbriate, 0.15–0.25 mm; stamens exserted, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.3–0.4 mm; anthers 0.2–0.3 × 0.2–0.3 mm; styles filiform, 0.7–1.1 mm, equaling ovary. |
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. |
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Capsules | depressed-globose to ovoid, 1.9–2.4 × 1.6–2.5 mm, not thickened or raised around relatively medium-sized to large interstylar aperture, translucent or not, base ± enveloped by withered corolla, indehiscent. |
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. |
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Seeds | 4, angled, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, 0.9–1.1 × 0.8–1 mm, hilum region subterminal. |
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. |
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2n | = 56. |
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Cuscuta pentagona |
Cuscuta indecora |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Nov. | |||||||||
Habitat | Hosts: herbs. | |||||||||
Elevation | 0–900 m. (0–3000 ft.) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NJ; NY; OK; PA; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; MB
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North America; Mexico; South America; West Indies
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Discussion | Cuscuta pentagona apparently has not spread outside of North America, where it is less common than C. campestris. It is currently included in North American noxious weeds lists although there is no evidence it attacks crops. G. Engelmann (1859) distinguished four varieties of Cuscuta pentagona: var. calycina, var. microcalyx, var. pentagona, and var. verrucosa (Engelmann) Yuncker. T. G. Yuncker (1932, 1965) treated var. calycina and var. verrucosa at specific rank and provided a new name for each: C. campestris and C. glabrior, respectively. Cuscuta glabrior is currently accepted by all the North American overviews; C. campestris has been persistently considered a synonym of C. pentagona despite morphological and evolutionary evidence that the two are distinct (M. Costea et al. 2006c, 2015). Cuscuta pentagona differs from C. campestris in its rhombic to ovate, auriculate calyx lobes with overlapping bases that form angles at sinuses and in its smaller flowers, capsules, and seeds. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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. Grammica | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | C. arvensis, C. pentagona var. microcalyx, Grammica pentagona | |||||||||
Name authority | Engelmann: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 43: 340, plate 6, figs. 22–24. (1842) | Choisy: Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 9: 278, plate 3, fig. 3. (1842) | ||||||||
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