RHH's photos with the keyword: dodder

These tendrils are part of a Dodder plant, a parasite that is part of the Morning Glory Family. Here it has attached itself to a Chaparral bush which it will eventually kill. Its troublesome nature is reflected in some of its names, witches’ shoelaces, devil’s-thread, devil’s-gut, strangle-weed, strangle-vine and tangle-gut.

Desert Dodder, also known as Strangleweed, Witch's Hair and Devil's Guts, is a parasitic plant that we saw several times in Death Valley. It usually does not kill its host but can do damage. It can be found in huge clumps that hide the parent plant and is made up of these weird orange hair-like tentacles.