Parasites Summer in St. George Marshes

Message From the Captain 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.

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 by following chemosensory clues. If a 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.

Not only do they “sense” clues for their own survival, dodder also is involved with a plant alarm system. The parasite is able to communicate an insect attack on one of its hosts to others among its host plants. The unattacted neighboring hosts go on alert and become more resistant to the attackers.

Local names include devil’s hair, lady’s laces, devils guts, goldthread, angel hair, and witches hair. Other folk names include strangle tare, scaldweed, beggarweed, fireweed, wizard’s net,  devil’s ringlet, hailweed, hairweed, hellbine, love vine, pull-down, and strangleweed.

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.

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

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