Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

Field Guide to Noxious and Other Selected Weeds of British Columbia

Parasitic Dodder
(Cuscuta species)

• Provincial Noxious Weed
• annual parasitic plant having no leaves or green parts
• also called strangleweed for the thread-like yellow to orange twining stems that coil around and attach to host plants with wart-like suckers
• a particular concern in vegetable and forage crops and ornamentals
• can produce over 16,000 seeds per plant that can remain viable for over 60 years

Dodder parasitizing alfalfa