Nomenclature
Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:
Cuscuta strobilacea, Liebm., Förh. Skand. Naturf. Möte 1844: 194 (–195). 1847.
Synonyms:
Cuscuta pringlei Yunck., Illinois Biol. Monogr. 6(2–3): 29. 1921.
Description
Habit:
Annual; stems 0.4-0.6 mm in diameter, yellow-orange.
Inflorescences:
dense, paniculate-glomerulate, often confluent; pedicels 0.2–1 mm; bracts 2-5 at the base of clusters and 5-7 at the base of pedicels, spiraled and resembling the sepals, 1.5–2.7 mm long, triangular or broadly ovate, margins membranous, finely erose, apex rounded to acute.
Flowers:
5-merous, 4–6 mm, fleshy, white when fresh, brownish when dried, papillae absent; laticifers not visible; calyx 2.–2.8 mm, brownish to reticulate and shiny, cupulate, equaling or longer than the corolla tube, divided to 1/4–1/5 the length, tube 0.3–0.5 mm, lobes 1.7–2.5 mm, overlapping, broadly ovate to triangular, sometimes slightly carinate; margins membranous, finely erose, apex rounded or acute; ± cucullate, with a subterminal dome-like or cusp, 0.05–0.3 mm long; corolla 3.6–5.5 mm, tube narrow-campanulate, 1.8–3 mm, lobes 1.5–2.5 mm, initially erect, later spreading, ± equaling the tube or slightly shorter, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, margins entire to finely erose, apex obuse or acute, slightly cucullate, with or without subterminal horn-like projection, 0.2–0.3 mm; stamens exerted, anthers 0.7–1 x 0.5–0.7 mm, oblong to elliptic, filaments 0.6–0.9 mm; infrastaminal scales 1.8–2.8 mm long, equaling the corolla tube, bridged at 1–1.2 mm, ovate to broadly elliptic, fimbriae 0.3–0.4 mm (some branched); styles 1.2–2.5 mm, equaling to longer than the ovary, thick, cylindric.
Fruits:
Capsules ovoid 3–3.8 x 2.2–2.8 mm, thickened and risen around the inconspicuous interstylar aperture, not translucent, capped by the withered corolla.
Seeds:
2–4 per capsule, 1.3–1.6 1.1–1.3 mm, angled, broadly oblong to subround, seed coat cells alveolate/papillate.
References:
Costea, M. 2007-onwards. Digital Atlas of Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae). Wilfrid Laurier University Herbarium, Ontario, Canada. Flower morphology; pollen; living plants.
Costea, M., I.R.Garcia, S. Stefanović. 2011. ‘Horned’dodders: phylogenetic relationships and two new species within Cuscutachapalana complex (Convolvulaceae). Botany, in press.
Yuncker, J. G. 1932. The genus Cuscuta. Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 18:113–331.
Biogeography, Ecology and Natural History
Distribution:
Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras.
Ecology:
Hosts: Aeschynomene, Bouganvillea, Ficus, Triumfetta and Fabaceae (Calliandra, Dalea, Eriosema,
Mimosa); elevation 200-2000m.
Authorship for webpage
Editor:
Mihai Costea
Classification:
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