1. Dodder (genus cuscuta) is a leafless, twining, parasitic plant belongs to family convolvulaceae.
2. The dodder contains no chlorophyll and instead absorbs food through haustoria.
Haustoria in cuscuta
3. The dodder’s seed germinates, forming an anchoring root, and then sends up a slender stem that grows in a spiral fashion until it reaches a host plant.
4. It then twines around the stem of the host plant and throws out haustoria, which penetrate it.
5. Water is drawn through the haustoria from the host plant’s stem and xylem, and nutrients are drawn from its phloem.
6. Meanwhile, the root rots away after stem contact has been made with a host plant.
7. As the dodder grows, it sends out new haustoria and establishes itself very firmly on the host plant.
8. After growing in a few spirals around one host shoot, the dodder finds its way to another and it continues to twine and branch until it resembles a fine densley tangled web of thin stems enveloping the host plant.
