Hazel dodder cuscute du noisetier

Stems yellow to orange, medium to slender. Inflorescences dense, paniculiform or glomer­ulate, sometimes originating endoge­nously; bracts at bases of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 0 or 1, ovate to lanceolate, mem­bra­nous, margins entire, apex acute. Pedicels 0.5–3 mm. Flow­ers (3 or)4 or 5-merous, 1.7–2.6(–3) mm, fleshy; usu­ally not papillate, perianth cells convex, domelike; calyx brownish, cupulate, usually equaling or longer than, rarely shorter than, corolla tube length, divided 1/2–2/3 its length, not reticulate or shiny, lobes triangular-ovate, bases not or slightly overlapping, margins entire, midvein ± carinate, apex acute; corolla white, usually drying dark brown, 1.5–2.5 mm, tube campanulate to suburceolate, 0.5–1.5 mm, not saccate, lobes suberect to erect, triangular-ovate, 1/3 to equaling corolla tube length, margins entire, apex acute, inflexed; infrastaminal scales relatively poorly developed, oblong, 0.7–1.5 mm, equaling or exceeding corolla tube length, bridged at 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid with 1–3 fimbriae on each side of filament attachment or with denticulate wings, fimbriae 0.3–0.5 mm; stamens included, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.3–0.6 mm; anthers 0.2–0.4 × 0.1–0.2 mm; styles filiform, 0.7–1.8 mm, usually equaling, sometimes longer than, ovary. Capsules globose, ovoid, or depressed, 1.8–2.5 × 3.5–5 mm, ± thickened, not raised, around relatively large interstylar aperture, not translucent, capped or not by withered corolla, inde­hiscent. Seeds 3 or 4, heterogeneous on same plant: obcompressed to weakly angled, broadly ellipsoid, or transversely oblique, 1.3–1.6 × 1.2–1.4 mm, hilum region usually subterminal, rarely almost terminal. 2n = 30.

Flowering Aug–Nov. Hosts: Desmodium, Glycyr­rhiza, Hedera, Helianthus, Monarda, Prenanthes, Rubus, Solanum, Solidago, Symphyotrichum, and other herbs and woody plants; woods, meadows, margins of wetlands; 50–1200 m; Man., Ont., Que., Sask.; Ala., Ariz., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Cuscuta coryli is closely related to C. indecora, from which it differs by often relatively small, four-merous flowers, bifid infrastaminal scales with one to three fimbriae on each side of filament attachment or with denticulate wings, and depressed capsules (M. Costea et al. 2006).