6. Cuscuta glomerata Choisy (rope dodder)

C. coryli Engelm. var. stylosa Engelm.

Pl. 364 f, g; Map 1588

Stems relatively slender, usually 1.0–1.5 mm in diameter, often withered or absent by flowering time. Flowers 4–5 mm long, with smooth to slightly irregular surfaces, subtended by several overlapping, lanceolate bracts with recurved, boat-shaped tips, forming dense, sessile, ropelike clusters along main stems. Calyces about as long as the corolla tube, mostly hidden by the bracts, deeply 5-lobed into separate or nearly distinct sepals, the sepals lanceolate, with a spreading, tapered, boat-shaped tip, not overlapping basally or angled. Corollas narrowed to 5 sharply pointed lobes, these spreading to reflexed, with straight tips. Infrastaminal scales reaching filament bases, narrowly oval, densely fringed along the margins. Fruits globose to conical, with a thickened collar at the tip. Seeds 1.5–1.9 mm long. 2n=30. July–September.

Scattered counties (Michigan to Mississippi west to South Dakota and Texas). Found in a variety of habitats, including wet and dry prairies, various forest types, fens, and roadsides. Parasitic on herbaceous hosts, including species of Asclepias, Helianthus, Solidago, and Vernonia.

In this dodder, frequently only 1 or 2 seeds mature in each fruit, giving the capsules a somewhat lopsided appearance. The papery remains of the corollas frequently cap the fruits.