? Cuscuta | ||||||||||||
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| [image] Cuscuta europaea on Sambucus ebulus | ||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
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| Species | ||||||||||||
| About 100 species, including: Cuscuta americana Cuscuta applanata Cuscuta approximata Cuscuta attenuata Cuscuta boldinghii Cuscuta brachycalyx Cuscuta californica Cuscuta campestris Cuscuta cassytoides Cuscuta ceanothi Cuscuta cephalanthi Cuscuta compacta Cuscuta coryli Cuscuta corylii Cuscuta cuspidata Cuscuta decipiens Cuscuta dentatasquamata Cuscuta denticulata Cuscuta epilinum Cuscuta epithymum Cuscuta erosa Cuscuta europaea Cuscuta exaltata Cuscuta fasciculata Cuscuta globulosa Cuscuta glomerata Cuscuta gronovii Cuscuta harperi Cuscuta howelliana Cuscuta indecora Cuscuta indesora Cuscuta japonica Cuscuta jepsoni Cuscuta leptantha Cuscuta lupuliformis Cuscuta megalocarpa Cuscuta mitriformis Cuscuta obtusiflora Cuscuta odontolepis Cuscuta pentagona Cuscuta plattensis Cuscuta polygonorum Cuscuta potosina Cuscuta potosona Cuscuta reflexa Cuscuta rostrata Cuscuta runyonii Cuscuta salina Cuscuta sandwichiana Cuscuta squamata Cuscuta suaveolens Cuscuta suksdorfii Cuscuta tuberculata Cuscuta umbellata Cuscuta vivipara Cuscuta warneri |
Dodder can be identified by its thin stems appearing leafless, with the leaves reduced to minute scales. It almost completely lacks Chlorophyll and is unable to photosynthesize effectively, being entirely dependent on the host plants for nutrition.
[image] Dodder flowers range in color from white to pink to yellow to cream. Some flower in the early summer, others later, depending on the species. The seeds are minute and produced in large quantities. They have a hard seed coating, and can survive in the soil for 5-10 years or more.
Dodder seeds sprout at or near the surface of the soil. While dodder Germination can occur without a host, it has to reach a green plant quickly; the young stem grows towards green light transmitted through nearby leaves. If a plant is not reached within 5 to 10 days of germination, the dodder seedling will die. Before a host plant is reached, the dodder, as other plants, relies on the cotyledons for food.
After dodder attaches itself to a plant, it wraps itself around it. If the host contains food beneficial to dodder, the dodder produces haustoria that insert themselves into the vascular system of the host. The original root of the dodder in the soil then dies. The dodder can grow and attach itself to multiple plants. In tropical areas it can grow more or less continuously, and may reach high into the canopy of shrubs and trees; in temperate regions it is an Annual plant and is restricted to relatively low vegetation that can be reached by new seedlings each spring.
Dodder is parasitic on a very wide variety of plants, including a number of agricultural and horticultural crop species, such as Alfalfa, Lespedeza, Flax, Clover, potatoes, Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, Helenium, Trumpet vine, Ivy and petunias, among others.
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Dodder ranges in severity based on its species and the species of the host, the time of attack, and whether any viruses are also present in the host plant. By debilitating the host plant, dodder decreases the ability of plants to resist virus diseases, and dodder can also spread plant diseases from one host to another if it is attached to more than one plant.