Cassytha melantha
Coarse Dodder-Laurel at Yackandandah, VIC
Identify this sighting
| Cassytha melantha | JasonPStewart | 8 Jun 2025 | |
| Cassytha (genus) | MichaelMulvaney | 8 Jun 2025 | |
| Cassytha (genus) | Tapirlord | 18 Dec 2021 | |
| Cassytha melantha | Darcy | 20 Sep 2021 | |
| Unverified | KylieWaldon | 19 Sep 2021 |
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User's notes
This vine thing had no leaves only evidence of some kind of flowers / seed heads. Is it native or a non native? Not seen it before.
3 comments
18 Dec 2021
Hard to ID from photos, need mature fruit. The clusters you can see are the emerging fruit or flowers.
8 Jun 2025
@Tapirlord and @MichaelMulvaney not difficult to identify, _Cassytha melantha_ – melan- in botany means black, as you would know.
With these, so many shown here, actually, spikes inflorescences with dark coloured hairs, including many flowers' buds with many dark coloured hairs (not young growing fruits yet (paler coloured). Incidently the fruits when ripe and then dried go black too, just confusing the botanist.).
Including in more details we can only see in aggregate blur here:
with these so many flowers' buds, about to flower en masse.:
Each flower covered in characteristic black and dark red hairs over the buds' sepals' green flesh (with some other coloured hairs), and black and dark red hairs over each buds' petals.
Combined with the, in proportion to these buds,
thick stems,
thicker stems than all other south-eastern Au _Cassytha_ spp. .
As moderators access, please refer to the full resolution originals of these two photographs.
Closely familiar for me from across south-eastern Au for over 35 years.
Small trees even, eg. 5m tall, can get killed by this biggest species in south-eastern Au – i have observed .
Refer please to:
The Flora of Vic. online VicFlora,
here:
→ https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/key/2160
→ https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/330bbf5f-ab89-4dcd-b081-bfc6a8c0233e
Quotation about this species habit: "
This is the most robust member of the genus, often extensively and densely draping over (and sometimes smothering) shrubs and trees.
" .
The Flora of Au online :
• Genus page, desciption treatment and key to spp. across Au: → https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Cassytha
• This species page: → https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Cassytha%20melantha
• Flora of Au photograph of the budding inflorescences on the stems, as here in this sighting: → https://ala-images.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/store/9/1/7/8/59d42901-fadb-4b95-88d7-c0ca24bd8719/original
.
With these, so many shown here, actually, spikes inflorescences with dark coloured hairs, including many flowers' buds with many dark coloured hairs (not young growing fruits yet (paler coloured). Incidently the fruits when ripe and then dried go black too, just confusing the botanist.).
Including in more details we can only see in aggregate blur here:
with these so many flowers' buds, about to flower en masse.:
Each flower covered in characteristic black and dark red hairs over the buds' sepals' green flesh (with some other coloured hairs), and black and dark red hairs over each buds' petals.
Combined with the, in proportion to these buds,
thick stems,
thicker stems than all other south-eastern Au _Cassytha_ spp. .
As moderators access, please refer to the full resolution originals of these two photographs.
Closely familiar for me from across south-eastern Au for over 35 years.
Small trees even, eg. 5m tall, can get killed by this biggest species in south-eastern Au – i have observed .
Refer please to:
The Flora of Vic. online VicFlora,
here:
→ https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/key/2160
→ https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/330bbf5f-ab89-4dcd-b081-bfc6a8c0233e
Quotation about this species habit: "
This is the most robust member of the genus, often extensively and densely draping over (and sometimes smothering) shrubs and trees.
" .
The Flora of Au online :
• Genus page, desciption treatment and key to spp. across Au: → https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Cassytha
• This species page: → https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Cassytha%20melantha
• Flora of Au photograph of the budding inflorescences on the stems, as here in this sighting: → https://ala-images.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/store/9/1/7/8/59d42901-fadb-4b95-88d7-c0ca24bd8719/original
.
Location information
- Coordinates 146.835574-36.318914
- Places Yackandandah, VIC
Sighting information
- 5 Abundance
- 19 Sep 2021 09:57 AM Recorded on
- KylieWaldon Recorded by
Collections
Species information
- Cassytha melantha Scientific name
- Coarse Dodder-Laurel Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 955.3m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Seasonal activity
-
Was the plant in flower?
JFMAMJJASOND
Record quality
Quality score
4 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Description
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Additional attributes