Welcome to Digital Atlas of Cuscuta!

Mihai Costea

8968 bonafortunae 189x500 - Digital Atlas of Cuscuta (Convolvulaceae)
Cuscuta bonafortunae Costea & I Garcia, new species published in Botany 89: 724. 2011

This site is intended to serve primarily as a comprehensive repository of visual biodiversity and 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 are also gradually added. 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).

What is Cuscuta?

How many species of Cuscuta are out there?

Why Are we Doing This?

Obstacles in Studying Cuscuta

Materials and Methods

Cuscuta Photo Galleries Cuscuta: Natural History and Ethnobotany
Please Help Cuscutology: for Collectors and Curators Cuscuta References
How to use the information from this site

Links

Acknowledgements