82 A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



242. DODDER. CUSCUTA. CUSCUTACEAE. 



Sprawling vines, always fastened parasitically to other 

 plants from which they get their food. Stems yellowish. 

 Leaves apparently none. Flowers tiny, yellowish, or pinkish. 

 The characters separating the 10 species known from our 

 area are more or less technical. The commonest species is 

 Dodder. Cuscuta Gronovii. Growing on shrubs or herbs, 

 the stems yellow to orange. Flowers in tiny clusters. Leaves 

 reduced to minute scales. Summer. Nova Scotia to Florida 

 and westward. Fig. 242 shows the vine attached to an herb, 

 and, at the lower left hand corner, an enlargement of a single 

 flower. 



