Cuscuta salina
Encyclopedia
Cuscuta salina is a species of dodder
known by the common name salt marsh dodder. It is native to western North America, where it lives in seasonal alkaline or saline habitats such as vernal pool
s and salt flats. It is a parasitic plant
, wrapping itself around wetland vegetation and tapping them for nutrients with its haustoria
. This is a slender annual vine extending yellowish thready stems to wrap tightly around other plants. The leaves are rudimentary and scale-like. The dodder produces flowers with white glandular corollas. Each is bell-shaped with five pointed triangular lobes.
Previous treatments of the species divided it into three varieties. In 2009, two of them were combined into a separate species called Cuscuta pacifica
. The two species can easily be differentiated by habitat geography: the varieties of Cuscuta pacifica
grow solely in coastal habitats while Cuscuta salina
sensu stricto grows inland in alkaline or saline seasonally wet habitats such as vernal pool
s and salt flats, such as the margins of the Great Salt Lake
.
Cuscuta
Cuscuta is a genus of about 100-170 species of yellow, orange or red parasitic plants. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, recent genetic research by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has shown that it is correctly placed in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae...
known by the common name salt marsh dodder. It is native to western North America, where it lives in seasonal alkaline or saline habitats such as vernal pool
Vernal pool
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are temporary pools of water. They are usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species...
s and salt flats. It is a parasitic plant
Parasitic plant
A parasitic plant is one that derives some or all of its sustenance from another plant. About 4,100 species in approximately 19 families of flowering plants are known. Parasitic plants have a modified root, the haustorium, that penetrates the host plant and connects to the xylem, phloem, or...
, wrapping itself around wetland vegetation and tapping them for nutrients with its haustoria
Haustorium
In botany, a haustorium is the appendage or portion of a parasitic fungus or of the root of a parasitic plant that penetrates the host's tissue and draws nutrients from it. Haustoria do not penetrate the host's cell membranes.Fungi in all major divisions form haustoria...
. This is a slender annual vine extending yellowish thready stems to wrap tightly around other plants. The leaves are rudimentary and scale-like. The dodder produces flowers with white glandular corollas. Each is bell-shaped with five pointed triangular lobes.
Previous treatments of the species divided it into three varieties. In 2009, two of them were combined into a separate species called Cuscuta pacifica
Cuscuta pacifica
Cuscuta pacifica is a species of dodder. Native to the coast of western North America from British Columbia to Baja California, it lives in coastal salt marsh habitats. It is a slender annual vine with yellowish thread-like stems that wrap tightly around other plants...
. The two species can easily be differentiated by habitat geography: the varieties of Cuscuta pacifica
Cuscuta pacifica
Cuscuta pacifica is a species of dodder. Native to the coast of western North America from British Columbia to Baja California, it lives in coastal salt marsh habitats. It is a slender annual vine with yellowish thread-like stems that wrap tightly around other plants...
grow solely in coastal habitats while Cuscuta salina
Cuscuta salina
Cuscuta salina is a species of dodder known by the common name salt marsh dodder. It is native to western North America, where it lives in seasonal alkaline or saline habitats such as vernal pools and salt flats. It is a parasitic plant, wrapping itself around wetland vegetation and tapping them...
sensu stricto grows inland in alkaline or saline seasonally wet habitats such as vernal pool
Vernal pool
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are temporary pools of water. They are usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species...
s and salt flats, such as the margins of the Great Salt Lake
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...
.