PlantFiles: Love Vine, Devil's Gut, Dodder
Cassytha filiformis

strangling invasive vine.

Annual parasitic plant having no leaves or green parts

Also called strangleweed for the thread-like yellow to orange twining stems that coil around and attach to host plants with wart-like suckers

A particular concern in vegetable and forage crops and ornamentals

Can produce over 16,000 seeds per plant that can remain viable for over 60 years

Love Vine, Devil's Gut or Dodder is native to the dry Florida Scrub, hammocks and sometimes pine flatwoods (found mostly in the very dry scrub) of coastal and interior central and southern Florida, southward through the Keys. It is a vine that climbs over low shrubs and trees, draping over them and covering them with hair-like, yellow strands. I have seen them in parks many times and I really like the way they drape over plants, seeming to cover them with an orange-yellowish, draping, smothering and gently covering curtain. For this reason it is often called Witch's Hair. I would recommend this plant immeadiately for people who like a draping, curtain-like vine, but I don't recommend thisn plant to those who don't like possibly fast-growing, invasive and spreading plants like this one. Personally, though, I really like them! Where can you get seeds or seedlings of this plant?

MORE FACTS - Also grows in Texas. Adaptable in many areas and may withstand some cold or frost. The plant also has tiny flowers that are, however, inconspicuous.