Cuscuta californica Hooker & Arnott var. brachycalyx Yuncker, Illinois Biol. Monogr. 6: 152, plate 8, fig. 45e,f, plate 11, fig. 75. 1921; C. brachycalyx var. apodanthera (Yuncker) Yuncker

Stems yellow to orange, medium. Inflorescences dense to loose, paniculiform; bracts at base of clusters 1, at base of pedicels 0 or 1, lanceolate, membranous, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate. Pedicels 1–6 mm. Flowers 5-merous, 4.5–6 mm, fleshy at base (receptacle and calyx base), not papillate; calyx brownish, campanulate-cupulate, 1/4–1/2 corolla tube length, divided 2/3 its length, not reticulate and shiny, lobes triangular-ovate, bases slightly overlapping, margins entire, midvein not carinate, apex acute; corolla white, drying creamy brown, 4.4–5.8 mm, tube campanulate-cylindric, becoming urceolate, 2–3.5 mm, saccate or with horizontal ridges between stamen attachments, lobes reflexed, lanceolate, somewhat shorter than to equaling corolla tube length, margins entire, apex acute, straight; infrastaminal scales absent; stamens exserted, shorter than corolla lobes; filaments 0.3–0.6 mm; anthers 0.7–1.1 × 0.3–5.5 mm; styles filiform, 1.2–3 mm, equaling or longer than ovary. Capsules globose to obovoid, 1.6–2.3 × 1.8–2.5 mm, apically enlarged or thickened, surrounded and capped by withered corolla, top not or barely visible, interstylar aperture not visible, indehiscent. Seeds 1–4, obcompressed, broadly ellipsoid to obovoid, 0.9–1.4 × 0.8–1.2 mm, hilum region lateral.

Flowering Jun–Sep. Hosts: Allium, Eriogonum, Gilia, Hemizonia, Lagophylla, Linanthus, Trichostema, Trifolium; chaparral, dry grasslands, and open places in Pinus ponderosa and Abies magnifica forests; of conservation concern; 30–2500 m; Calif., Oreg.