Cuscuta—commonly called dodder or amarbel—is a genus of more than 200 species of parasitic plants, typically yellow, orange, or red (and only rarely green). It occurs across temperate and tropical regions worldwide. The plant grows as long, thin, twining stems that coil around host plants, drawing nutrients by inserting tiny, straw-like structures into the host’s phloem. Dodder is able to locate suitable hosts by sensing airborne volatile organic compounds, which may explain why we saw it growing mostly on black sage during today’s hike.

Its many folk names include strangle tare, strangleweed, scaldweed, beggarweed, lady’s laces, fireweed, wizard’s net, devil’s guts, devil’s hair, devil’s ringlet, goldthread, hailweed, hairweed, hellbine, love vine, pull-down, angel hair, and witch’s hair—curiously linking it to angels and devils, ladies and beggars, fire and hail, love and hell.