Cuscuta californica

Chaparral dodder

Family: Convolvulaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Chaparral dodder is a native perennial parasitic plant found in California's chaparral and woodland habitats. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces small cream to white flowers in compact clusters 3 to 20 flowers long. Growing as a slender, twining parasitic vine without chlorophyll, it attaches to host plants using specialized structures called haustoria. Its tiny flowers are approximately 3 to 5 millimeters long, with bell-shaped calyxes and narrow lanceolate corolla lobes that become reflexed with age. The fruit is small and spheric, measuring 1.5 to 2.2 millimeters wide, containing 1 to 4 seeds.

California counties: Inyo, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Tulare, Solano, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Orange, San Benito, Riverside, Santa Clara, San Diego, Butte, Kern, Plumas, Humboldt, Glenn, Placer, El Dorado, Ventura, Tuolumne, Contra Costa, Calaveras, Santa Cruz, Tehama, Monterey, Amador, Alameda, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Nevada, Shasta, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Yolo, Fresno, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Sierra, Trinity, Colusa, Lassen, Alpine, Del Norte

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.