122 FARM WEEDS OF CANADA 



CLOVER DODDER {Cuscuta Epithymvm Murr.) 



Other English names: Love Vine, Lesser or Thyme Dodder. 

 Other Latin name: Cuscuta Trifolii Bab. 



Introduced from Europe. An annual with slender yellowish 

 and reddish stems, which twine about the host plant and become 

 attached to the clover stems by suckers through which 

 the parasite obtains nourishment from the host. The plant 

 appears to be leafless, the leaves being reduced to small scales. 

 Flowers whitish or pinkish, in clusters along the thread-like, 

 twining stems. 



The seed (Plate 74, fig. 56) is small, from 1/30 to 1/20 of 

 an inch in diameter, yellow or brown, irregularly spherical, 

 and more or less angled on the inner scar-bearing side; the 

 surface granular-roughened. When soaked, the germ is seen 

 to be spirally coiled, wormlike. 



Time of flowering: July to November; seeds ripe by Sep- 

 tember, when they fall to the ground and germinate the following 

 spring. 



Propagation: By seeds. 



Occurrence : The abundant occurrence of Dodder seeds 

 among imported alfalfa and clover seeds offered for sale during 

 recent years, as well as the presence of the plant in some fields 

 of alfalfa in Ontario, has aroused much interest in these 

 parasitic plants. 



Injury: Dodder spreads rapidly from a single plant. It 

 will destroy quite large patches of clover, giving a field the 

 appearance of having been burnt in irregular patches. There 

 is probably no weed legislated against so much as Dodder. It 

 is a serious pest in southern Europe, parts of tlie United States, 

 Chili, and other temperate to warm climates having long summer 

 seasons without frost. During years of shortage in clover 

 seed crop of Canada, it has frequently been introduced and 



