Globe dodder

Cuscuta potosina W. Schaffner ex Engelmann var. globifera Yuncker

Stems orange-yellow, slender. Inflorescences dense, corymbi­form to glomerulate; bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 0 or 1, ovate, membra­nous, margins entire, apex acute. Pedicels 0.4–1.3 mm. Flowers 5-merous, 2–2.6 mm, membranous, not papillate; calyx straw yellow, cupulate, equaling corolla tube length, divided 2/3 its length, finely reticulate, shiny, lobes ovate, bases not overlapping, margins entire, midvein with multicellular protuberances, apex acute; corolla white, drying creamy, 1.5–2.1 mm, tube cylindro-campanulate, becoming globose, 0.8–1.2 mm, not saccate, lobes erect to spreading, ovate-triangular, shorter than to equaling corolla tube length, margins usually entire, sometimes irregularly toothed, apex acute, straight to slightly incurved; infrastaminal scales oblong or rounded, 0.9–1.3 mm, equaling or slightly longer than corolla tube length, bridged at 0.1–0.2 mm, uniformly fimbriate in distal 1/2, fimbriae 0.1–0.3 mm; stamens exserted, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.3–0.6 mm; anthers 0.2–0.3 × 0.2–0.3 mm; styles filiform, 0.4–0.7 mm, shorter than to equaling ovary. Capsules depressed-globose, 1.5–2.5 × 1–1.8 mm, not thickened or raised around relatively small interstylar aperture, translucent, loosely surrounded or capped by withered corolla, dehiscence circumscissile. Seeds 3 or 4, angled, broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, 0.8–1 × 0.7–0.9 mm, hilum region almost terminal.

Flowering Jul–Nov. Hosts: Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae (especially Dalea), Malvaceae; 600–1800 m; Ariz., N.Mex.; Mexico.