Cuscuta epithymumL.

Dodderclover doddercommon dodder

WFO wfo-0001296657 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cuscuta epithymum, photographed by Paul Bell-Butler
fig. a Paul Bell-Butler, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-16 / obs. 176113438
Cuscuta epithymum, photographed by Piermario Maculan
fig. b Piermario Maculan, CC0 1.0 / obs. 155578469
Cuscuta epithymum, photographed by Billy Fullwood
fig. c Billy Fullwood, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179693604
Cuscuta epithymum, photographed by Thomas Gyselinck
fig. d Thomas Gyselinck, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 154815082
Cuscuta epithymum, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. e Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 152261923
Cuscuta epithymum, photographed by Darío Estraviz López
fig. f Darío Estraviz López, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151588280
Cuscuta epithymum, photographed by Gabriel Mayrhofer
fig. g Gabriel Mayrhofer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 152250232
Cuscuta epithymum, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. h Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 186715732

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 57 botanical countries

Regions where Cuscuta epithymum is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Selvagens, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Altay, East Aegean Is., Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaLibyaMoroccoSelvagensTunisiaAfghanistanAltayEast Aegean Is.IranKazakhstanLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanWest SiberiaXinjiangAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Canary Is.MadeiraBaleares
Native distribution of Cuscuta epithymum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Kazakhstan KAZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
Selvagens SEL
Tunisia TUN

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 145 in flower of 158 examined

Peak flowering in Jan. Each bar is the share of Cuscuta epithymum observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 145 of 158 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 38 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cuscuta acutiflora Rota
  • Cuscuta alba C.Presl
  • Cuscuta alpicola Brügger
  • Cuscuta alpina Kotschy ex Choisy
  • Cuscuta aragonensis Sennen
  • Cuscuta barbuvea (Brot.) Samp.
  • Cuscuta calliopes Engelm.
  • Cuscuta campanulata Stokes
  • Cuscuta coriariae Sennen & Pau
  • Cuscuta epithymiphyta St.-Lag.
  • Cuscuta epithymum f. alba Engelm.
  • Cuscuta epithymum f. angustissima Engelm.
  • Cuscuta epithymum f. rubella Engelm.
  • Cuscuta epithymum f. scabrella Engelm.
  • Cuscuta epithymum subsp. corsicana (Yunck.) Lambinon
  • Cuscuta epithymum var. trifolii (L.) A.G.Ham.
  • Cuscuta ericae Sennen
  • Cuscuta europaea var. epithymum L.
  • Cuscuta gracilior Rouy
  • Cuscuta gussonei Gaspar. ex Engelm.
  • Cuscuta hygrogenes Gand.
  • Cuscuta kotschyi Des Moul.
  • Cuscuta macranthera Heldr. & Sartori
  • Cuscuta microcephala Welw. ex Des Moul.

and 14 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.