buttonbush dodder, Cuscuta cephalanthi

Another vampire plant! This one really is scary. Farmer's will drive a stake through it every chance they get. Actually, once it gets into your crop, it's very hard to kill without taking the victims with it. The best way is to plant crops that it can't prey on for several years. It particularly does not like monocots. In the lower right corner you can glimpse the orange twining stem with roots that suck the sap from the host. Buttonbush dodder grows on many hosts, herbaceous or woody, in AR, AZ, CA, CT, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NJ(E), NM, NV, NY(E), OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, AB, BC, MB, NB, NS, and ON. This one is growing on an aster in Monroe Co MI, 8/25/13.