Dodder (scientific name: Cuscuta chinensis), also known as silk vine, motherless vine, rootless vine, or luo silk vine, is a species under the genus Cuscuta in the Convolvulaceae family. It is a parasitic plant with a unique physiological structure; its cells lack chloroplasts. It uses its climbing vine-like structure to attach to other plants, and from the points of contact with the host, it extends haustoria that penetrate the host's phloem to absorb nutrients for survival. Furthermore, it stores these nutrients as starch granules in its tissues.