ABSTRACT
Dodders (Cuscuta) are parasitic plants with slender thread-like twining stems and inconspicuous flowers that coil about and fasten to their host plants with wart-like attachments, called haustoria. The dodders are among the best known of the parasitic flowering plants.” There is some controversy on whether the genus Cuscuta belongs to the Convolvulaceae or to a separate family.111 Several authors place heavy taxonomic emphasis on the parasitic habit of Cuscuta and consider the separate family Cuscutaceae to be composed of the single genus, Cuscuta. When Cuscuta is included in the family Convolvulaceae, it represents the only parasitic genus in an otherwise autotrophic family.
