Parasitic, usually glabrous, slender, twining, yellowish annuals
Leaves rudimentary
Flowers clustered, whitish or rose-coloured
Calyx with shortly campanulate tube, (4)5-lobed or -segmented
Corolla with campanulate, urceolate, ovoid, or globose tube, with membranous, fimbriated or toothed scales within, alternating with lobes; lobes (4)5, as long as or shorter than tube
Ovary subglobose, completely or partly 2-locular, with 2 ovules in each locule; styles 2, free or connate at base; stigmas clavate, cylindric or capitate
Fruit a globose or ovoid, dry or fleshy capsule, circumscissile or irregularly dehiscent
Seeds somewhat convex on one side and flattish on other
x = 7 (15, 8) (aneuploids, polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Cuscuta L.
Linnaeus: 124 (1753)
Yuncker: 113 (1932)
Meeuse: 644 (1957)
Meeuse & Welman: 3 (2000)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 140, cosmopolitan in warmer regions
Southern Africa: Species 15, widespread in all regions except arid areas, including 3 introductions
References:
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum, edn 1. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
MEEUSE, A.D.J. 1957. The South African Convolvulaceae. Bothalia 6
MEEUSE, A.D.J. & WELMAN, W.G. 2000. Convolvulaceae. Flora of southern Africa 28,1
YUNCKER, T.G. 1932. The genus Cuscuta. Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club 18,2
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
