Stems medium in thickness and bright greenish-yellow to orange and glabrous (smooth), flowers mainly in loose pinnately compound clusters. Flowers are glandular (a little sticky), ~3-5 mm long, mounted on pedicels shorter in length than the flowers. The flowers sit on round or ovate calyxes dotted with sticky glands and feature a somewhat bell-shaped tubular corolla, translucent white, divided into 4-5 pointed lobes, which are longer than the tube, with a handful of stamens with yellow anthers (pollen-bearing structures) no longer than the lobes. Fruit is ~1.5-2 mm across, round in shape, but slightly flattened on two sides. Blooms May through August and is quite common, especially on stressed plants near roadsides, under 2500 m in elevation. The plant is an annual herbaceous vine found through much of California and the American West.
Cuscuta californica (Convolvulaceae or Cuscutaceae): California dodder, chaparral dodder, witch's hair
The development of this key was partially funded through the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program (Award #0703798) and through a course of re-assigned time provided by the CSULB Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee. Thanks also to the students in sections of biogeography, introductory physical geography, GDEP, and LSAMP for "test-driving" various editions of this key.