Cassytha capillaris

Meissner

Dodder laurel, Slender dodder

Lauraceae Edible: Fruit Potential hazards — see below 10 iNaturalist observations

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Description

A plant which keeps growing from year to year by living on other plants. It twines around plants and climbs. It can make some of its own food from carbon dioxide in the air. It attaches to plants by special processes with grow into the plant. The stems are green and become reddish brown when they dry out. They are 0.4-0.5 mm across. If leaves occur they are very small (1 mm) and triangular. Young plants can have hairs but they become hairless. The plant does not have leaves. The flower is a spike. The flowers are white and do not have a flower stalk. The flowers are round and the fruit are pearly pink. They become red when dry. The fruit are 4-6 mm by 3-4 mm. They can be oval or lobed. (It differs from Cassytha filiformis by having a slender almost hairless stem and fruit which are smaller, oval and becoming red when dry.)

Edible Uses

The fruit are eaten raw when not bitter.

Traditional Uses

The fruit are eaten. (If they are bitter they are not eaten.) CAUTION: Some Cassytha have an alkaloid that can cause abortion and should not therefore be eaten by pregnant women.

Medicinal Uses

Cassytha is best known for its parasitic habit, and the various species are neither prominent as crop plants, nor as beneficial plants. Species within the genus do have minor uses in rural communities globally. For example, the fruit of various species are eaten, both by birds and by humans, and C. melantha in particular has been documented as a wild-harvested Australian indigenous food. The flesh of fruit is very sticky and chewy, and has a taste reminiscent of feijoa. In the Caribbean region, C. filiformis is one of the plant species known as love vine, because it has a reputation as an aphrodisiac. Plants in the genus contain low concentrations of several alkaloids that have not yet been shown to be of great value, but do have biochemical properties worthy of investigation. Together with the fragrant essential oils in some species, the alkaloids might be relevant to the wide application of Cassytha species in folk medicine and in traditional teas. Though they are not of commercial interest as fibre crops, suitably prepared vines from some Cassytha species are of value in rural communities as a source of cord. They may be used for binding bundles of materials such as thatch, or for stringing decorative festoons.

Known Hazards

Some Cassytha species contain alkaloids that can cause abortion and should not be eaten by pregnant women.

Distribution

A tropical plant. The grow in dry, open, sandy hills. In tropical Queensland it grows from sea level to 600 m altitude. It can grow in arid places.

Where It Grows

Asia, Australia, Indochina, Indonesia, Mariana Islands, Micronesia, Pacific, Palau, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Saipan, SE Asia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam,

Production

In northern Australia plants flower and fruit from February to June.

Other Information

It is not known if they are used for food in Papua New Guinea.

Notes

There are 15-20 Cassytha species. Sometimes they are in the family Cassythaceae.

Synonyms

Cassytha glabella R. Br.Cassytha strigosa Fitzg.Cassytha tenuis Allen

References (6)

Cooper, W. and Cooper, W., 2004, Fruits of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. Nokomis Editions, Victoria, Australia. p 245
Kenneally, K.E., Edinger, D. C., and Willing T., 1996, Broome and Beyond, Plants and People of the Dampier Peninsula, Kimberley, Western Australia. Department of Conservation and Land Management. p 113
Latz, P.K., 1996, Bushfires and Bushtucker: Aboriginal plant use in Central Australia. IAD Press Alice Springs p 144
Paczkowska, G. & Chapman, A.R., 2000, The Western Australian Flora. A Descriptive Catalogue. Western Australian Herbarium. p 276
Pham-Hoang Ho, 1999, An Illustrated Flora of Vietnam. Nha Xuat Ban Tre. p 402

Show all 6 references