Cuscuta L.
Annual or perennial herbaceous rootless parasites with thread-like twining stems bearing haustoria and lacking chlorophyll or latex, often forming a dense mass on the host plant. Lvs reduced to minute scales. Infl. cymose, umbellate, capitate or spike-like. Fls small, white to pink or yellowish. Calyx (3)-4-5-lobed, occasionally with free sepals. Corolla (3)-4-5-lobed, usually urceolate, campanulate or ± globose; lobes imbricate. Stamens inserted in throat of corolla, with lobed or fimbriate scales between the stamens; anthers very short. Ovary 2-locular, sometimes incompletely so; each loculus with 2 ovules. Styles 2, free or connate. Fr. a globose or ovoid capsule, dry or ± fleshy, dehiscing transversely or by an irregular split, 1-4-seeded. Seeds glabrous, with filiform embryo surrounding the endosperm. Cotyledons rudimentary or 0.
Key
c. 170 spp., widespread. Naturalised spp. 4.
Cuscuta is often regarded as forming the separate but related family Cuscutaceae.
