Species: Cuscuta corylii Engelm.

comments | credits | copyright

Back to: Plants at Risk in Saskatchewan

Cuscuta corylii Engelm.

Species Image Gallery
(opens in a new window)

TAXONOMY

Family:

Cuscutaceae

Genus:

Cuscuta

Species Synonyms:

none

Common Names:

hazel dodder

DISTRIBUTION

Canada:

southwestern Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan:

southwestern Saskatchewan; Mortlach area

Ecoregion:

Mixed Grassland

HABITAT

Saskatchewan:

parasitic on a variety of hosts, including Glycyrrhiza lepidota and Solidago dumetorum

RARITY STATUS

Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):

Vulnerable

Nature Conservancy Status:

G5 N1 S1

Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:

None

COSEWIC Status:

None

Cuscuta corylii is vulnerable because of extreme rarity and limitation to one region of the province. The Saskatchewan population is isolated from other populations of the same species.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION

Roots:

plants do not root in soil; suckers attach stem to other plants

Stems:

parasitic annual, twining, 0.4 – 0.6 mm diameter, yellow-orange

Leaves:

absent

Inflorescence:

cymes small, paniculate; flowers pedicillate

Flowers:

2.5 – 3 mm long; calices mostly 4-merous, distinct, acute, surrounded by scale-like bracts; corollas mostly 4-merous, slenderly campanulate, corolla tube to 2 mm long; scales in throat 2-cleft, very small; stamens equal to corolla lobes; ovary thickened apically, stigma capitate

Fruits:

capsule globose, becoming depressed globose, capped by withered corolla; seeds usually 4, 1.5 mm, globular, scurfy

CUSCUTA SPECIES IN SASKATCHEWAN

1 Flowers mostly 4-merous	C. corylii
1 Flowers mostly 5-merous	2

2 Corolla lobes inflexed at tip; capsule depressed-globose	C. pentagona var. pentagona
2 Corolla lobed erect or spreading; capsule globose-ovoid	3

3 Corolla lobes erect; withered corolla capping mostly apex of capsule, but also base at times; seeds 2 – 3 mm	C. megalocarpa
3 Corolla lobes spreading; withered corolla capping base of capsule; seeds 1 – 1.5 mm	C. gronovii var. gronovii