6968.000 Cuscuta L. - Dodders

Description of the genus

Twining, annual or perennial, parasitic herbs without chlorophyll, attached to the host by numerous haustoria. Stems slender, whitish, yellowish or reddish. Leaves alternate, reduced to minute scales or 0. Flowers in dense, ± sessile, spherical clusters, 4-5-merous. Sepals fused at base. Corolla usually white or pink, with 4-5-lobes fused below, usually with a whorl of scales inside the tube opposite to and just below the stamens. Stamens 4-5. Ovary 2(-3)-locular, each loculus with 2 ovules. Styles 2, terminal, distinct or connate. Capsule opening irregularly, circumscissile or indehiscent. Seeds 4 or fewer.Sometimes, as in FZ, included within its own family, Cuscutaceae, but here put with Convolvulaceae.

Worldwide: c. 145 species, cosmopolitan

Zimbabwe: 5 taxa.

Cuscuta campestris

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
campestris Yunck.N,W,C,EDescription, Image
hyalina RothE,S
kilimanjari Oliv. var. kilimanjari N,C,EDescription, Image
planiflora Ten. var. planiflora N,W,C
suaveolens Ser.C,E

Other sources of information about Cuscuta:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Cuscuta
Flora of Malawi: Cuscuta
Flora of Mozambique: Cuscuta
Flora of Zambia: Cuscuta

External websites:

ePIC (electronic Plant Information Center): Cuscuta
Flora Zambesiaca web site: Cuscuta
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
GRIN (Germplasm Resources Information Network) taxonomy for plants report for Cuscuta
Wikipedia: Cuscuta
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Cuscuta
Kew Herbarium catalogue: Cuscuta

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-23

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2023). Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Cuscuta.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=1174, retrieved 22 March 2023

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