Welcome to Digital Atlas of Cuscuta!

Mihai Costea

This site is intended to serve primarily as a comprehensive repository of visual taxonomic information for Cuscuta (dodders, Convolvulaceae), as well as a tool for the identification of its taxa. Type collections are of paramount significance for understanding this group of parasitic plants (see “obstacles in studying Cuscuta”); therefore, my priority has been to make available the morphology of these specimens first. I am beginning with the groups/species that we have already studied, and I shall continue in the future with the remaining ones. Photos of living plants, anatomy, and scanning electron microscopy will also be added in the future. Secondly, I plan to gradually gather here information about the evolution and phylogeny of Cuscuta, ethnobotany, pharmacology, biology and ecology, conservation and invasiveness.

If you would like to have your dodder(s) identified, I have good news: often a few dried flowers/capsules sent via regular mail are enough to make a positive identification (contact Mihai).