Summary ³

Cuscuta japonica, commonly known as Japanese dodder, is a parasitic vine. It has been listed by the State of California as a noxious weed.

Description ⁴

Stems yellow or often with purplish spots, slightly stout, 1-2 mm in diam., many branched. Inflorescences spicate, ca. 3 cm; bracts and bracteoles scalelike, broadly ovate, ca. 2 mm. Flowers subsessile. Calyx cupular, ca. 2 mm, deeply divided; sepals ovate to circular, equal or unequal, purplish tuberculate abaxially, apex acute. Corolla pink or greenish white, campanulate to tubular, 3-7 mm, shallowly 5-lobed; lobes erect or reflexed, ovate-triangular, much shorter than tube, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at throat; anthers yellow, ovate-circular; filaments very short or absent; scales oblong, fimbriate, reaching middle of tube. Ovary globose, smooth. Style 1, longer than or as long as ovary; stigma elongated. Capsule ovoid, ca. 5 mm, circumscissile near base. Seeds 1-3, brown, 2-2.5 mm, smooth. Fl. Aug, fr. Sep.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) H.T.Cheng, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by H.T.Cheng
2. (c) Aaron Lincoln, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Aaron Lincoln
3. Adapted by Kate Wagner from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuscuta_japonica
4. (c) Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/4983167

More Info

• iNat taxon page
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