Cuscuta epithymum (L.) L.

Native, Axiophyte

Dodder is an annual, rarely perennial, rootless twining herb, parasitic on the stems of a wide variety of small shrubs and herbs (most frequently Calluna vulgaris, Thymus polytrichus, Ulex gallii and U. minor) on heathland, chalk downland and fixed dune grasslands. It is also casual on field crops and in arable field-borders at the northern and western extent of its range (F. J. Rumsey in Preston et al, 2002)

In Norfolk, Dodder is somewhat sporadic in occurrence, but in the past 15 years it has been present at eleven heathland sites in the north-east, occasionally in abundance, and at three sites on heathland in the west. It occurs mainly on gorse, both Ulex europaeus and Ulex gallii, Heather Calluna vulgaris and Bell Heather Erica cinerea, but occasionally on other species.

It has probably benefited from the increase in heathland management and restoration of recent years and there is little or no evidence of a current decline in range. Occasionally it can be abundant on tall mature gorse, as at Beeston Regis Common, but with modern heathland management it is now perhaps most often seen on younger gorse and on heather.