Cuscuta epithymum(L.) L. Clover dodder

Cuscuta epithymum(L.) L. - Clover dodder

Scientific Description:

Stems thin to medium, whitish to red. Inflorescences (3.5−)5−10(−12) mm diam. usually many-flowered, dense. Flowers 2.5−4 mm, sessile or subsessile, mostly white, occasionally pink or purplish, smooth or infrequently papillose, 5−merous. Calyx shorter than to ± equalling corolla tube, lobes ± as long as tube, triangular to ovate, acute, sometimes acuminate, attenuate or subacute, generally membranous or somewhat fleshy along back. Corolla lobes shorter than cylindrical protruding tube, triangular or ovate, acute, shortly attenuate, apiculate or subacute, membranous but sometimes slightly thickened towards apex, patent. Stamens distinctly exceeding tube, almost as long as corolla lobes; anthers a little shorter than filaments. Scales reaching stamens or almost so obovate or oblong-spathulate, simple, rounded, fimbriate around upper part. Styles almost as long as or shorter than filiform stigmas, together as long as or usually longer than ovary. Capsule c. 2 mm, subglobose. Seeds c. 1 mm. generally 4 per capsule, ovoid to irregularly suborbicular, scabrous.

 

var. epithymum

Flowers smooth; calyx and corolla lobes ovate-triangular.

 

Flowering time: (April−)June−August(−October).

Habitat: On a variety of annual herbs, hemicryptophytes and shrubs (Compositae, Gramineae, Labiatae, Leguminosae, Rubiaceae) in open low formations, sometimes in fields on leguminous crops, nr s.l.−2100 m.

 

Reference:

Plitmann U (1978). Cuscuta epithymum (L.) L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 6: 231.

Public Description:

Cuscuta epithymum var. epithymum, known as “clover dodder”, “lesser dodder” or “hellweed”, is native distribution Europe, West Asia and northern Africa. It is a filiform plant with white flowers and lives as a parasite on other plants. It is used in traditional medicine as a purgative and to treat disorders of the liver, spleen and urinary tract. However, there has been little scientific investigation into the actual effectiveness of its use.

 

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuscuta_epithymum/, Accessed date: 07.02.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/17114/, Accessed date: 07.02.2016.

Kandemir A (2012). Cuscuta L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 378–380.