Scientific Name: Cassytha glabella

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  • Pronunciation:
    cah-SIGH-tha gla-BELL-ah
  • Common Name:
    Dodder, Dodder Laurel
  • Derivation:
    glabella: L. glaber - smooth, hairless
  • Type:
    Herb trailing parasite , vine
  • Family:
    LAURACEAE
  • Flowers:
    mainly spring to autumn, up to 6 flowers on spikes to 8 mm.
  • Fruit:
    enclosed in large succulent perianth tubes, ovoid fruit to 4 mm in crowded heads.
  • Vegetation Type:
    Dry Heath. Mainly coastal districts, often in heathy areas.
  • Species List:
    Bush food, Craft, Weyba Nature Refuge, Eumarella Rd., Fraser Island, Johns, Batianoff 87, TAFE, Girraween, Marcus Dunes
Cultural Notes

Bush food: small mature fruit eaten raw.||Stems used as fibre source.||

Identification Notes

Inflorescence capitate with 3-6 flowers. Glabrous filiform parasite.

Associated Fauna

Host plant for butterflies. Known food plant of Ground Parrots. Butterfly host plant: Common dusky blue, Small dusky blue.