Dodder is primarily a weed of landscapes, nurseries, and cucurbit crops, but this weed can occasionally be found in other agronomic crops like alfalfa. Seedlings develop only for a short time until the stalks are able to attach to a host plant.
Seedlings resemble mature plants and are yellowish to reddish-brown stems and no apparent leaves.
Occur as scales that are rarely noticeable. Twining, usually counterclockwise in direction, branching, and yellowish to reddish-brown in color. Flowers are white or pink in color. A round capsule that is approximately 3 mm long and contains 4 seeds. The vining nature and yellowish to reddish-brown color of dodder makes this easy to distinguish from most other weeds, however several species of dodder occur throughout the United States.