Dodder (Cuscuta campestris) is a climbing parasitic plant belonging to the family Convolvulaceae. It has a lifestyle that differs from that of most green plants, as it depends largely on its host plant for water and nutrients. Its stems are thin and thread-like, usually yellow or orange in color, and they twine around the stems of other plants that serve as hosts. Its leaves are highly reduced, and therefore the plant does not rely on conventional leaves for food production as typical green plants do. After the seed germinates, the plant begins searching for a suitable host. Once it reaches a host, it twines around it and develops specialized structures that penetrate its tissues and connect with the vascular tissues. These structures allow water and nutrients to move from the host plant to the dodder. The plant produces small flowers that occur in clusters or spherical groups. After fertilization, fruits containing seeds are formed. Dodder seeds are capable of remaining viable in the soil for long periods, which helps the plant persist and spread. Dodder is a clear example of holoparasitism in plants and of the morphological changes that occur when a plant loses its dependence on photosynthesis. Some dodder species can also affect the growth of agricultural plants by extracting water and nutrients from them, making certain species agriculturally important parasitic plants. These characteristics make dodder a distinctive model for studying plant parasitism, structural adaptations, and the relationship between parasitic plants and their host plants.