Cuscuta: almost round or oval, often concave on both sides, with a long diameter of about 1.5 mm and a short diameter of about 1 mm. The surface is dark brown or reddish brown and rough. Observe under a magnifying glass; there are fine dark dots on the surface, light-colored dots on one end, and a linear hilum in the center. It is hard, not easily broken, and will not break even when pressed hard. After the seed coat is peeled off, the endosperm is membranous and covers the outside of the embryo, and the embryo is elongated and coiled. No gas, slightly bitter taste.

Cuscuta

One is the plant name

Scientific name: Cuscuta chinensis Lam.

Alternative names: Bean parasitic, rootless grass, yellow silk , golden silk seed, horse cold silk

English name: China Dodder

Family name: Convolvulaceae Convolvulaceae

An annual parasitic herb. Stems are linear, orange-yellow. No leaves. The flowers are clustered, with membranous bracts outside; the calyx is cup-shaped, with 5 lobes; the corolla is white, twice as long as the curvature of the flower, with 5 lobes at the top, and the lobes are often recurved outward; stamens are 5, with short filaments, alternate with the corolla lobes; scales 5. Nearly oblong. The ovary has 2 cells, each cell has 2 ovules, and the styles are 2, capitate-shaped. The capsule is nearly spherical and is completely surrounded by a corolla when mature; the seeds are light brown. The flowering and fruiting period is from July to October.

Produced in Lianyungang, Qiuxian, Tongshan, Baoying, Nanjing, Wujiang and other places, growing on hillside roadsides and riversides, mostly parasitic on Leguminosae, Asteraceae, Polygonaceae and other plants; distributed in North China, East China, South-Central, Northwest and Southwest provinces. Cuscuta has the characteristic of living in groups, so it is easy to identify in the wild. The seeds contain fatty oil and starch; they can also be used as medicine as a nourishing and strong astringent medicine to treat impotence, spermatorrhea, enuresis and other diseases.