Cassytha pubescens

Cassytha pubescens, devil's twine, is a leafless, stem-parasitic perennial vine in the family Lauraceae, widespread along the east coast of Australia from southeastern Queensland through eastern New South Wales, Victoria, southeastern South Australia and Tasmania, where it inhabits dry sclerophyll forests, heaths and coastal woodlands but does not extend into arid interior regions. The slender, photosynthetic, yellow-green to dark green stems are 0.5 to 1.5 mm thick, wrinkled and variably pubescent, and twine around themselves and around the stems and branches of host plants, attaching by disc-like haustoria that penetrate the host xylem to extract water and dissolved minerals. The leaves are reduced to minute scales. Small whitish to pale yellow flowers are borne in short spikes, racemes or panicles between December and April, the inner whorl petaloid and pubescent, with nine fertile stamens. Globose to ovoid fleshy fruits 6 to 10 mm wide ripen from green to grey-black between March and April. Successful host attachment within the first six weeks after germination is required for seedling survival.