Fimbriate dodder

Stems yellow-orange, slender. Inflorescences loose, racemiform or corymbiform; bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 0 or 1, ovate, membranous, margins entire, apex acute. Pedicels 2–5(–7 mm). Flowers 5-merous, 3–5 mm, membra­nous, not papillate; calyx light brown to reddish, cupulate-turbinate, 1/2–3/4 corolla tube length, divided 1/2 its length, not reticulate or shiny, lobes triangular-ovate, bases scarcely overlapping, margins entire, revolute, midvein not carinate, apex obtuse to subacute; corolla white, drying creamy or reddish, 2.8–4.7 mm, tube campanulate, 2–3 mm, not saccate, lobes erect to spreading, triangular-ovate, 1/2 corolla tube length, margins entire, apex acute, inflexed; infrastaminal scales oblong-ovate, 1.8–2.8 mm, equaling corolla tube length, bridged at 0.8–1.4 mm, rounded, uniformly densely fimbriate, fimbriae 0.3–0.5 mm; stamens slightly exserted, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.2–0.4 mm; anthers 0.6–0.8 × 0.5–0.6 mm; styles filiform, 1.6–2.5 mm, equaling or longer than ovary. Capsules globose-ovoid, 2.5–3.5 × 2.5–3.5 mm, not thickened around relatively small interstylar aper­ture, not translucent, surrounded by withered corolla, indehiscent. Seeds 2–4, obcompressed, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, 1.3–2 × 1–1.7 mm, hilum region subterminal.

Flowering Jul–Oct. Hosts: Medicago sativa, Trifolium; 20–1000 m; introduced; Ala., Calif., Ohio, S.Dak., Tex.; South America; introduced also in Europe.

Cuscuta suaveolens is an ephemeral weed associated with the cultivation of forage legumes; it has not been collected in recent decades.