Buttonbush dodder

Stems yellow-orange, medium. Inflorescences dense to loose, spiciform or paniculiform, commonly originating endoge­nously; bracts at base of clusters 1 or 2, at base of pedicels and/or flowers 0 or 1, ovate, mem­bra­nous, margins entire or ser­ru­late, apex obtuse to acute. Ped­icels 0–1 mm. Flowers (3 or)4(or 5)-merous, 2–3 mm, membranous, not papillate; calyx yellow-brown, shal­lowly cupulate, 1/2 corolla tube length, divided 2/3 its length, not reticulate, not shiny, lobes oblong-ovate, bases slightly overlapping, margins entire or serrulate, midvein not carinate, apex obtuse; corolla white, drying creamy white, 1.8–2.8 mm, tube cylindric-campanulate to cylindric, 1.1–2.2 mm, not saccate, lobes spreading, ovate, 1/3–1/2 corolla tube length, margins entire, apex obtuse, straight; infrastaminal scales oblong, rounded, 0.9–1.7 mm, shorter than to equaling corolla tube length, bridged at 0.2–0.4 mm, sparsely fimbriate, more densely distally, fimbriae 0.1–0.3 mm; stamens included to slightly exserted, equaling corolla lobes; filaments 0.2–0.4 mm; anthers 0.2–0.4 × 0.2–0.4 mm; styles fili­form or narrowly terete, (0.6–)1–2 mm, equaling or lon­ger than ovary. Capsules depressed-globose to glo­bose, 2.5–3.2(–4) × 2–4 mm, not thickened or raised around relatively small interstylar aperture, not trans­lucent, capped by withered corolla, indehiscent. Seeds 1 or 2, obcompressed, broadly ovoid, 1.4–2 × 1.3–1.4 mm, hilum region terminal. 2n = 60.

Flowering Jun–Oct. Hosts: Achillea, Boehmeria, Campsis, Cephalanthus, Chelone, Decodon, Hypericum, Iva, Justicia, Lycopus, Lysimachia, Lythrum, Persicaria, Physostegia, Potentilla, Pycnanthemum, Salix, Sauru­rus, Scutellaria, Solanum, Solidago, Spiraea, Symphyo­trichum, Teucrium, Tradescantia, Vernonia, Vicia, and other herbs and woody plants; stream and lake shores, marshes, and floodplain forests; 0–1500 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., N.S., Ont.; Ariz., Ark., Calif., Conn., D.C., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Nebr., Nev., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Va., Wash., Wis.