Greater dodder

Stems yellowish to reddish, medium to coarse. Inflores­cences: bracts ovate to lance­olate, membranous, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute. Pedicels 0–1.5 mm. Flowers 4(or 5)-merous, 3–5 mm, fleshy; papillae absent; calyx creamy yellow to brownish, cupulate to obconic, shorter than to equaling corolla tube length, divided 1/2–3/4 its length, not reticulate or shiny, lobes ovate to triangular-ovate, bases not overlapping, mar­gins entire, apex obtuse to rounded; corolla white or pink, drying yellow-brown, campanulate to urceolate, 2.2–4.7 mm, tube 1.7–3.3 mm, not saccate, lobes usu­ally erect, sometimes spreading, triangular-ovate, 1/3–1/2 corolla tube length, margins entire, apex obtuse to truncate, straight; infrastaminal scales oblong, often 2-fid, 1–1.2 mm, 1/2 corolla tube length, bridged at 0.4–0.6 mm, short-fimbriate apically, fimbriae 0.1–0.3 mm; stamens included, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.2–0.5 mm; anthers 0.2–0.5 × 0.2–0.4 mm; styles terete; style plus stigmas 0.6–1.2 mm, shorter than ovary; stigmas cylindric to clavate, 0.3–0.6 mm, shorter than to equaling styles. Capsules ovoid, globose-conic, or pyriform, 1.6–4 × 2–4 mm, not thickened or raised around interstylar aperture, ± translucent, capped by withered corolla. Seeds 2–4, angled, subglobose, broadly ellipsoid, or ovoid, 1.2–1.5 × 0.9–1.3 mm, hilum region terminal. 2n = 14.

Flowering Jul–Sep. Hosts: usually Urtica dioica, Humulus lupulus, Rubus sp.; it can parasitize numerous other hosts both herbaceous and woody; 20–200 m; introduced; Maine, N.Y.; Europe; introduced also in South America, Asia (China, Japan), n Africa.