| Cassytha | |
|---|---|
| Cassytha filiformis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Magnoliids |
| Order: | Laurales |
| Family: | Lauraceae |
| Genus: | Cassytha L. |
| species | |
|
See text. |
|
Cassytha L. (1753) is a genus of 17 species of parasitic vines in the family Lauraceae, mainly native to Australia, but with a few species in Africa, southern Asia, and one (C. filiformis) in Hawaii, northern South America, Central America, southern Florida and Japan.
The plants bear a striking, though superficial, resemblance to Cuscuta (dodder), an unrelated genus in the family Convolvulaceae, making an excellent example of convergent evolution.
Note that the homonym Cassytha Mill. (1768) is a synonym of the cactus genus Rhipsalis. The classification of some Rhipsalis species to Cassytha was an error based on the not dissimilar habitus.