Family: dodders (Cuscutaceae)
Flowering time: May–October
Size: stem a few decimetres long
Habitat: infests various plant species in dry to moderately moist meadows
A thin reddish stem of the small-flowered dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) winds around various meadow plants and penetrates into them with modified roots – haustoria. Dodders are parasites, which draw inorganic as well as organic substances from host plants, as they have lost chlorophyll over the course of evolution and cannot produce sugars themselves. On the thin stem, numerous globose inflorescences develop, 7 to 10 mm wide. The inflorescences consist of 8 to 10 small pale-pink to white five-petaled flowers.
Common dodder is a widespread plant found throughout Slovenia.
