Santa Rita Mountain dodder

Stems yellowish, slender. Inflo­rescences dense, paniculiform-glomerulate; bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels and/or flowers 0 or 1, subround to broadly ovate, membranous, margins entire, apex acute to short-acuminate, papillate. Ped­icels 0–1 mm. Flowers 5-merous, 4.5–5 mm, membranous, calyx and corolla lobes papil­late; calyx straw yellow, campanulate, 1/2–3/4 corolla tube length, divided 2/3 its length, finely reticulate, not shiny, lobes ovate-triangular, bases overlapping, margins entire, midvein not carinate, apex acute to short-acuminate; corolla white, drying creamy white, 3.5–4.5 mm, tube cylindric, 2.2–2.8 mm, not saccate, lobes reflexed, ovate-triangular, shorter than to equaling corolla tube length, margins entire, apex acute to short-acuminate, straight; infrastaminal scales oblong-spatulate to obovate, 2–2.5 mm, 1/2 to equaling corolla tube length, bridged at 0.2–0.5 mm, rounded, densely fimbriate in distal 1/2, fimbriae 0.2–0.3 mm; stamens barely exserted, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.3–0.7 mm; anthers 0.7–1.1 × 0.2–3 mm; styles fili­form, 2.8–4 mm, longer than ovary. Capsules globose to depressed-globose, 2.9–4 × 3–3.2 mm, thickened and raised around inconspicuous interstylar aperture, translucent, loosely surrounded and capped by withered corolla, dehiscence circumscissile. Seeds 3 or 4, angled, broadly ellipsoid, 1–1.2 × 0.6–0.8 mm, hilum region terminal.

Flowering Aug–Oct. Hosts: Amaranthus; of conser­vation concern; 900–1500 m; Ariz.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora).

Cuscuta odontolepis was used by the Aztecs to produce a yellow dye called zacatlaxcalli (B. de Sahagún 1950–1982).