Habitat

Cuscuta pentagona is found all over the United States.  Forty-six of the fifty states report having Cuscuta pentagona.  It is typically found in fields and roadsides (Freckmann, 2000).

This map shows where Cuscuta pentagona has been documented as a native species.  Click on the map for more about the distribution of Cuscuta pentagona by the NRCS.

Cuscuta pentagona is known the world over though.  It is found in 76 countries. It spans the Americas from Argentina and Chile up to Canada, and covers from south Africa almost to the Arctic. Cuscuta pentagona infects various crops around the world: alfalfa in Australia and Saudi Arabia, carrots in Italy, cranberries in the U.S., beans, beets, and peas in Israel, India, and Japan, and much, much more. (Cook, 2006)

The genus Cuscuta is known the world over.  It is found on every continent other than Antarctica.  The genus parasitizes trees, shrubs, crops, and other plants (Cook, 2006).  Each species has its specialty in host plant, but overall, this genus can be found almost anywhere you go.

The wide spread of Cuscuta pentagona can be attributed to its parasitic nature.  Cuscuta pentagona doesn't need a certain amount of sunlight, for example, or certain soil.  It relies instead on the host plant to be adapted to the region.  One of the only climate specifications is for germination.  Cuscuta pentagona germinates at temperatures between 15 and 38 degrees Celsius (Cook, 2006).  This is a wide range of temperatures though, so Cuscuta pentagona is barely hindered by this.

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