AusTraits

Cuscuta epithymum

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Convolvulaceae

Taxonomy: Cuscuta epithymum (L.) L.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Cuscuta europaea var. epithymum L. (nomenclatural synonym)
Misapplied names: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Cuscuta europaea L. (misapplied)
  • Cuscuta racemosa Mart. (pro parte misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), SA (naturalised), NSW (naturalised), Vic (naturalised), Tas (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, SA eFlora, Vic Flora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (5), RBGV_2022 (3), RBGV_2023 (7), SAH_2022 (4), SAH_2023 (6), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Tsakalos_2020 (15), WAH_2022_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 23 traits from 59 records in 12 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_type (categorical): capsule (4) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Sjostrom_2006; Tsakalos_2020]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (4) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_type (categorical): scale (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; Tsakalos_2020]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (3) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023; Tsakalos_2020]
  • leaf_glaucousness (categorical): not_glaucous (2) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • leaf_hairs_adult_leaves (categorical): glabrous (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3); non-photosynthetic_plant (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Tsakalos_2020]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): climber (1); climber_herbaceous (2); herb (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (6) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • plant_climbing_mechanism (categorical): twining (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): climbing (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; Tsakalos_2020]
  • parasitic (categorical): parasitic (4); stem_parasitic (1) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnyy (1); yyyynnnnnnyy (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; Tsakalos_2020]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Tsakalos_20201415J. L. Tsakalos, M. Renton, F. Riviera, E. J. Veneklaas, M. P. Dobrowolski, and L. Mucina. “Trait-based formal definition of plant functional types and functional communities in the multi-species and multi-traits context”. Ecological Complexity 40 (2019), p. 100787. doi: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2019.100787.
RBGV_202377VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_202366S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202355N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2014_244Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202244N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
SAH_202244S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
Sjostrom_200644A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
RBGV_202233VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.