Cuscuta salina
Salt dodder, Salt Dodder
Family: Convolvulaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Salt dodder is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, Great Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and White and Inyo Mountains on inland salt flats at elevations of 50 to 100 meters. Flowering from May to November, this plant produces small, membranous flowers in umbel-like clusters with 2 to 16 flowers. Growing as a parasitic vine, it attaches to host herbs with thin, thread-like stems. Its flowers are distinctive, with delicate lance-ovate calyx lobes and corolla tubes featuring densely fringed scales that nearly cover the tube. The small fruit is elliptic-ovoid, surrounded by the persistent corolla, creating a unique capsule-like structure characteristic of dodder species.
Habitat: Generally on herbs on inland salt flats
Bloom period: May-Nov
Elevation: 50-100 m
Bioregions: KR, GV, SnFrB, W&I
California counties: Ventura, Imperial, Riverside, Fresno, Merced, Orange, San Diego, Los Angeles, Tulare, Santa Barbara, Solano, Inyo, San Mateo, Monterey, Kern, Alameda, San Luis Obispo, Marin, Humboldt, Santa Clara, Mendocino, San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, Yolo, Kings, Madera, Colusa, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Sonoma
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.