Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Cuscuta pacifica
salt marsh dodder
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest along the coast in Washington; British Columbia to Baja California.

Habitat: Coastal marshes and saltwater tideflats.

Flowers: June-October

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees, wasps

Description:
General:

Parasitic, twining, perennial herbs, with very slender, pinkish-yellow to white glabrous stems, often forming large mats.

Leaves:

Leaves reduced to tiny scales.

Flowers:

Flowers in few-flowered, loose clusters on pedicels 2-4 mm. long; calyx fleshy at the base, about equal to the corolla tube, the 5 lobes ovate-lanceolate, pointed; corolla 2.5-4.5 mm. long, the tube narrowly bell-shaped, the 5 erect lobes broadly lanceolate, acuminate, nearly entire, about equal to the tube; stamens 5, inserted just below the sinuses; poorly developed, narrowly-oblong scales cover the base of the filaments; styles 2, 1 mm. long, ovary 2-celled, superior.

Fruits:

Capsule globose-ovoid, crested just below the base of the styles.

Accepted Name:
Cuscuta pacifica Costea & M.A.R. Wright
Publication: Systematic Botany, 34(4):787–795. 2009.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Cuscuta salina Engelm., misapplied [HC, HC2]
Cuscuta salina Engelm. var. major Yunck., misapplied [KZ99]
Cuscuta salina Engelm. var. salina, misapplied [KZ99]
Cuscuta subinclusa Durand & Hilg. var. abbreviata Engelm.
Infraspecies:
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Cuscuta pacifica in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Cuscuta pacifica checklist entry

OregonFlora: Cuscuta pacifica information

E-Flora BC: Cuscuta pacifica atlas page

CalPhotos: Cuscuta pacifica photos

21 photographs:
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