Twining, annual or perennial,
parasitic herbs without chlorophyll, attached
to the host by numerous haustoria. Stems slender, whitish,
yellowish or reddish. Leaves alternate, reduced to minute scales
or 0. Flowers in dense, ± sessile, spherical
clusters, 4-5-merous. Sepals fused at base. Corolla usually
white or pink, with 4-5-lobes fused below, usually with a whorl
of scales inside the tube opposite to and just below the stamens.
Stamens 4-5. Ovary 2(-3)-locular, each loculus with 2 ovules.
Styles 2, terminal, distinct or connate. Capsule opening
irregularly, circumscissile or indehiscent. Seeds 4 or fewer.Sometimes, as in FZ, included within its own family, Cuscutaceae, but here put with Convolvulaceae. Worldwide: c. 145 species, cosmopolitan Zambia: 6 taxa. |
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