They are closely related to the family of morning glories. There are more than 100 species of dodder. This parasitic plant has other common names such as strangleweed, devil's hair, love vine, hell-bind, gold thread, and yellow stringy plants. The stems may be yellow, orange, pink, or brown in color and are only 0.3 -1.5 mm thick. Also clusters of small tubular white or yellow bell-like flowers form during the summer and fall.
Dodders can also reproduce from detached stem pieces vegetatively.
The dodder begins as a seed that germinates in the ground and forms a short anchoring root. A slender stem grows in a spiral manner until it reaches a host plant. Once the dodder attaches itself to the host and entangles completely around it, it develops haustoria which are sucking organs that take nourishment such as water and minerals from the host by pentetrating it. Once a dodder comes into contact with a host plant, the root-system shrivels and dies away. As the dodder continually grows, new haustoria are formed and they settle firmly onto the host.