Smartweed dodder, cuscute des renouées

Stems yellow-orange, slender to medium. Inflorescences dense, glomerulate; bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 0–1, ovate-triangular to lance­olate, membranous, margins entire, apex acute. Pedicels 0–1 mm. Flowers (3 or)4-merous, 2–2.7 mm, membra­nous, not papillate; calyx brownish yellow, cupulate, equaling corolla tube length, divided 1/2–2/3 its length, not reticulate or shiny, lobes triangular-ovate, bases not overlapping, margins entire, midvein not carinate, without hornlike appendages, apex obtuse to rounded; corolla white, drying yellow-brown, 1.8–2.5 mm, tube cupulate to shallowly campanulate, 1–1.4 mm, not saccate, lobes erect, triangular, equaling or longer than corolla tube length, margins entire, apex acute, inflexed; infrastaminal scales usually well developed, sometimes poorly developed, oblong, 0.8–1.2 mm, shorter than to equaling corolla tube length, bridged at 0.1–0.2 mm, mostly shallowly 2-fid with 1–3 fimbriae on each side of filament attachment or irregularly fimbriate at apex, fimbriae (0.05–)0.1–0.3 mm; stamens exserted, shorter than to ± equaling corolla lobes; filaments 0.4–0.8 mm; anthers 0.3–0.4 × 0.2–0.3 mm; styles subulate, 0.4–0.9 mm, shorter than ovary. Capsules depressed-globose, often appearing angled, 1.6–3 × 2.5–5 mm, not thickened or raised around relatively large interstylar aperture, not translucent, base ± enveloped by withered corolla, indehiscent. Seeds 3 or 4, obcompressed, subglobose or broadly ovoid to broadly ellipsoid, 1.4–1.6 × 1.2–1.3 mm, hilum region subterminal.

Flowering Jul–Oct. Hosts: usually Persicaria, some­times Impatiens, Ipomoea, Justicia, Laportea, Lycopus, Penthorum, Xanthium, and others; margins of streams, lakes, swamps, flood plains; 30–500 m; Ont., Que.; Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., Nebr., N.J., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., Tenn., Tex., Va., Wis.