Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Cuscuta australis
Common name
Australian dodder
Family
Convolvulaceae
Where found
Parasitic on native and naturalized herbs, particularly Polygonum and Persicaria, especially in swampy areas. Sydney area and Blue Mountains north from Buxton.
Notes
Parasitic annual twiner, leafless. Stems slender, pale yellow to brown. Leafless. Flowers white, about 2 mm long, tubular, with 5 lobes, the lobes shorter than or equal to the tube. The tips of the flower lobes blunt and never flexed upwards (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Stalks of individual flowers mainly less than 2.5 mm long. Flowers in dense compact clusters to about 7 mm in diameter. Flowers mainly summer.
General Biosecurity Duty all NSW. Always check native vegetation requirements before undertaking control of a weedy native plant.
Data deficient Vic..
PlantNETdescription: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Cuscuta~australis (accessed 7 January, 2021)
Kwan, Singapore website: http://www.natureloveyou.sg/
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