Dodder or Devil’s Hair: It Kills

Message from the Cap’n is a compilation of fishing advice, waterman and weather insights, Chesapeake lore, and ordinary malarkey from the folks who keep their feet wet in the Potomac and St. Mary’s rivers.

We have a parasitic plant belonging to the morning glory family that is a hazard to the High Tide bush in the marshes.

It has many names. According to Wikipedia, cuscuta  is commonly known as dodder or amarbel, is a genus of over 201 species of yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasitic plants.

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. Those known and used locally include devil’s hair, devils guts, goldthread, angel hair, and witches hair.

Dodder seeds sprout at or near the surface of the soil. Although dodder germination can occur without a host, it has to reach a green plant quickly and is adapted to grow toward the nearby plants. If a host plant is not reached within five to 10 days of germination, the dodder seedling will die. Before a host plant is reached, the dodder, as other plants, relies on food reserves in the embryo.

Dodder is found throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world, with the greatest species diversity in subtropical and tropical regions; the genus becomes rare in cool temperate climates, with only four species native to northern Europe.

We on St. George Island notice dodder on our “waterbushes” or High Tide bushes.  It can however affect many agricultural crops such as alfalfa, asparagus, carrots, onions, and potatoes. Dodder can weaken or kill plants and reduce crop yields. It kills most of the bushes that we see it prey upon.

Doddard/ A parasitic plant

I come back from death every year

From seeds dropped very near

And I must quickly find a host

If one is found I grow the most

I weave my threads amongst the green

of the High Tide Bush at the scene

You see no roots from my Angel’s hair

But I’ll sap your stems till they’re bare

My growth looks like a piece of art

Weakening the foliage till death do us part

No wonder they called me the scourge of the marsh

Cause I’ll leave this bush dead, brown and awash

The bush dries and turns brown as toast

In the heat of the sun it surely roasts

Then the spores fall down below

So next year again they begin to grow

Check out the Potomac River Interpretive Buoy system for details on current water conditions

Till next time, remember “It’s Our Bay, Let’s Pass It On.”

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