Cuscuta denticulata

Small-tooth dodder, Small-Tooth Dodder

Family: Convolvulaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Small-tooth dodder is a native parasitic vine found in western and desert bioregions, inhabiting creosote-bush scrub and Joshua-tree woodland at elevations generally below 1,300 meters. Flowering from May to October, this plant produces small white to cream-colored flowers clustered in dense head-like inflorescences up to 7 clusters long. Growing as a thin, thread-like parasitic vine that attaches to host plants, especially shrubs, with delicate pale stems. Its tiny flowers feature distinctive bell-shaped calyxes with finely dentate (toothed) margins and reflexed corolla lobes, each flower measuring 1.8 to 3.1 millimeters long. The fruit is a small, translucent spheric-ovoid structure containing a single seed that develops an enlarged embryo on one end.

Habitat: On herbs, especially shrubs in creosote-bush scrub, Joshua-tree woodland

Bloom period: May-Oct

Elevation: generally < 1300 m

Bioregions: W&ampI, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Riverside, Los Angeles, Merced, Mono, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Imperial

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