Vegetative key to the families

ROOTLESS EPIPHYTIC PARASITES.

Stems thread-like, leafless or almost so, forming tangled masses over the host and attached to the host by haustoria

Stems green or with brown scale-leaves. Usually parasitic on shrubs or trees (Cassytha) Lauraceae

Leaves reduced to scales. Rootless twinning hemiparasitic herb Cassytha

Plants glabrous. Stems filiform. Flowers few in a globular head on a short peduncle. Floral tube and perianth together c. 2 mm long, glabrous. Floral tube at fruiting stage ovoid to ellipsoid, 4–6 mm long, reddish or yellowish. Coast to lower Blue Mts Heath. Fl. summer Cassytha glabella glabella

Plants pubescent at least when young. Stems comparatively stout. Flowers in short spikes or almost capitate