Status: Native
Synonyms:
None
Cuscuta chinensis, like other species in the genus, is holoparasitic. Identification of dodders requires microscopic examination of the tiny flowers which are only a few millimeters across. The leaves are scale-like to absent. The stems are yellow and parasitize a number of possible hosts. C. chinensis is most notable for unequal styles, its capsule that is circumscissile at the base, and ridges along the sepals which are therefore refered to as "carinate". The staminate appendages are large and fimbriate at the margin. We found C. chinensis at lower to middle elevation parasitizing Boerhavia coccinea and various Asteraceae.
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Cuscuta chinensis, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, closeup of habit, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, closeup of area of penetration of haustoria into host, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of unequal styles and depressed globose ovary, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of single leafy bract at base of flower cluster, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of undersurface of flowers, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of flower, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of staminate appendage, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of flower, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of pedicels, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of carinate sepals, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of carinate sepals, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of carinate sepals, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
Cuscuta chinensis, photomicrograph of base remnant of circumscissile capsule/ovary, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, Burro Mtns., Bill Evans Lake, entrance to N side parking lot, Sept. 3, 2021
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