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

Botswana: 3 taxa.

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

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
australis R. Br.N
campestris Yunck.N,SEDescription, Image
hyalina RothSE

Other sources of information about Cuscuta:

Our websites:

Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Cuscuta
Flora of Malawi: Cuscuta
Flora of Mozambique: Cuscuta
Flora of Zambia: Cuscuta
Flora of Zimbabwe: Cuscuta

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Cuscuta
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Cuscuta
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Cuscuta
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Cuscuta
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Cuscuta
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Cuscuta
JSTOR Plant Science: Cuscuta
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Cuscuta
Plants of the World Online: Cuscuta
Tropicos: Cuscuta
Wikipedia: Cuscuta

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2014-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Botswana: Genus page: Cuscuta.
https://www.botswanaflora.com/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=1174, retrieved 19 March 2024

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