Cuscuta gronovii

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Cuscuta gronovii
Cuscuta gronovii AFP.jpg
Photo by the Atlas of Florida Plants Database
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Order: Solanales
Family: Cuscutaceae
Genus: Cuscuta
Species: C. gronovii
Binomial name
Cuscuta gronovii
Willd
CUSC GRON DIST.JPG
Natural range of Cuscuta gronovii from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common Name: swamp dodder; common dodder;[1] scaldweed[2]

Taxonomic Notes

Synonym: Grammica gronovii[1]
Varieties: C. gronovii var. gronovii;[1][2] C. gronovii var. latiflora;[1] C. gronovii var. calyptrata[2]

Description

C. gronovii is a dioecious perennial that grows as a forb/herb or vine.[2] Scales can produce up to five axillary branches, which can then become their own plant after contacting a host.[3]

Distribution

This species is found in all of the lower 48 United States except for Washington, California, Nevada, and Utah. It is also found in Canada from Alberta eastward to Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.[2]

Ecology

Habitat

This species is found on a wide variety of herbaceous and woody plants within stream banks, bottomland forests, bogs, marshes, swamps, wet fields, and wet disturbed areas.

Phenology

Flowering occurs from late July through November in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.[1]

Seed bank and germination

Seeds germinate in soil, but roots die off as the plant twines around a host and sends out suckers that penetrate the host's tissues and obtain nutrients.[4] Embryogenesis studies reveal no primary root meristem in this species.[3]

Conservation and Management

Cultivation and restoration

Photo Gallery

References and notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Weakley AS (2015) Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Herbarium.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 USDA NRCS (2016) The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 25 January 2018). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Truscott FH (1966) Some aspects of morphogenesis in Cuscuta gronovii. American Journal of Botany 53(7):739-750.
  4. Plant database: Cuscuta gronovii. (25 January 2018) Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. URL: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CUGR