When people think of parasites, often what comes to mind are blood-sucking insects like bed bugs, head lice, and fleas or other bodily invaders on or in humans and other animals. But plants can have parasites too. Most of us are familiar with mistletoe but there is another parasitic plant you may not have heard about: dodder.

There are several species of dodder native to California but they are not as problematic as a particularly invasive species, Japanese dodder, Cuscuta...