Dragon dodder

Stems pale orange, slender. Inflorescences dense, glomer­u­late or fasciculate; bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 1 or 2, ovate-triangular to linear, membranous, margins entire, midvein with 1–3(–5) horn­like, multicellular protub­er­ances, apex cuspidate to long-attenuate, ± recurved. Pedicels 0.1–6 mm, sometimes papillate. Flowers 5-merous, 2.5–3.6(–4) mm, fleshy, papillate or not; calyx golden yellow to brown, cam­panulate, ± angled, equaling corolla tube length, divided 1/2–2/3 its length, reticulate and shiny or ± fleshy, lobes triangular-ovate or broadly ovate to subround, mem­branous, bases overlapping, margins irregularly ser­rulate, denticulate, or entire, midvein with 1 or 2(–5) hornlike, multicellular protuberances 0.1–0.3 mm, apex subacute, rounded, or obtuse; corolla white, drying creamy yellow, 2–3.5 mm, tube campanulate, 1.2–1.6 mm, not saccate, lobes spreading to reflexed, triangular-ovate, equaling corolla tube length, margins entire or irregularly denticulate, apex ± cucullate, acute, cuspidate (sometimes 2 or 3-cuspidate), mucronate, or truncate, inflexed; infrastaminal scales spatulate to obovate, 0.7–1 mm, 3/4 corolla tube length, bridged at 0.2–0.4 mm, densely fimbriate, fimbriae 0.2–0.3 mm; stamens exserted, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.4–0.8 mm; anthers 0.5–0.8 × 0.4–0.5 mm; styles stout, filiform, 0.5–1.2 mm, shorter than to equaling ovary. Capsules not seen, lack of dehiscence line in the ovary indicates they are indehiscent. Seeds not seen.

Flowering Aug–Sep. Hosts: Atriplex, Gutierrezia, Thelesperma; 1600 m; N.Mex., Tex.

Some plants of Cuscuta draconella from Texas were formerly treated as C. decipiens Yuncker, which is known only from Zacatecas, Mexico.