Cuscuta australis

R. Br.

Convolvulaceae Potential hazards — see below

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(c) MP Zhou, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by MP Zhou

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant.

Asia, Europe, Korea, Mongolia, SE Asia, Thailand,

Countries: Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bahrain, Brunei, Bhutan, Belarus, Switzerland, China, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Georgia, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Iceland, Italy, Jordan, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Monaco, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Malta, Maldives, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, San Marino, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Taiwan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

How to Identify

A herb. It is a slender thread like creeper. It grows attached to other plants. The flowers are about 2 mm across in compact heads.

How to Grow

Plants can grow from seed.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Cuscuta australis, commonly known as Australian dodder, is a herb in the family Convolvulaceae. The annual parasitic twining herb or climber that is associated with many hosts. It blooms between November and March producing 5-merous white-cream-yellow flowers in compact clusters on pedicels which are less than 2.5 millimetres (0.1 in) long. The lobes are rounded-triangular and shorter than or equal in length to the corolla tube. It parasitises both native and exotic plants. To maximize its seed yield, it synchronizes its flowering to that of its host plant via detection of a signaling protein in the host.

Other Information

These Cuscuta parasite plants can cause significant crop losses, especially for pulses.

Notes

Probably mainly as medicine. Cuscuta plants are parasites growing on other plants. Sometimes also put in the family Cuscutaceae.

Names & Synonyms

Cuscuta cordofana (Engelm.) Yunck. and others

References (1)

Maisuthisakul, P., 2012, Phenolic Constituents and Antioxidant Properties of some Thai Plants. Chp. 9 in Book Phytochemicals - A Global Perspective of Their Role in Nutrition and Health