Cuscuta cassytoides Nees ex Engelm., Convolvulaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: African dodder

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Stems coarse, often 'with purple spots'. Flowers 2.5-4 mm long, subsessile, in few-flowered cymules arranged in paniculate spikes. Calyx cupulate, about enclosing the corolla tube, lobes ovate-orbicular, deeply divided. Corolla lobes ovate, obtuse, nearly as long as the short-cylindrical tube, erect to spreading. Anthers oval, sessile, or subsessile, at the sinus. Scales triangular, and nearly reaching the stamens, or shorter and truncated, shallowly and irregularly denticulated, bridged at various heights. Ovary globose-conic, styles united, often subulate, of various lengths, but mostly about equal to the young ovary, stigmas small, flat, commonly spreading. Capsule 5-8 mm long, globose-ovate, definitely circumscissile, carrying the withered corolla at the top; seeds about 3 mm long, hilum long, narrow, terminal" (Yuncker, 1932; p. 250).

Habitat/ecology:  Parasitic on herbs and also on woody plants such as Coffea of which it might become as pest (Verdcourt, 1963; pp. 8-9). In New Caledonia, "cette espèce voyante, d'introduction paraît-il récente, existe dans des locaités trè dispersées" (MacKee, 1994; p. 40).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  East and South Africa; also Java and Lesser Sunda Islands (Verdcourt, 1963; pp. 8-9).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands		Heine, Heino (1984)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 40) Vouchers cited: MacKee 26571, MacKee 26910, MacKee 31329, MacKee 33179, MacKee 41139

Additional information:
Additional online information about Cuscuta cassytoides is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Cuscuta cassytoides as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Cuscuta cassytoides may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Heine, Heino. 1984. 13. Convolvulacées. In: Morat, Ph.. et H. S. MacKee. Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et Dépendances. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

Verdcourt, B. 1963. Convolvulaceae. In: C. E. Hubbard and R. M. Redhead, eds. Flora of tropical East Africa. Crown Agents, London.