Dodder, various plants in the genus Cuscuta, are parasites that resembles shredded cheese. I am not making this up. Here's some Dodder that has completely taken over a large slope in Upper Newport Bay:
An overview of Dodder here and here
I see it every once in a while in the hills around here, and a few years ago I found some in a Helichrysum by the driveway, just a few threads beginning. I thought at first it was some pieces of orange thread. I pulled it out, along with the Helichrysum stems it had attached to, and it has not returned. I must have got it before it could produce seeds--a bullet dodged. Too bad it's a nasty and destructive parasite, because it's cool-looking...well, sort of. Who could have thought up a plant that looks like shredded cheese?
An overview of Dodder here and here
I see it every once in a while in the hills around here, and a few years ago I found some in a Helichrysum by the driveway, just a few threads beginning. I thought at first it was some pieces of orange thread. I pulled it out, along with the Helichrysum stems it had attached to, and it has not returned. I must have got it before it could produce seeds--a bullet dodged. Too bad it's a nasty and destructive parasite, because it's cool-looking...well, sort of. Who could have thought up a plant that looks like shredded cheese?
Well that's just craziness!
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