Cassytha is a genus of some two dozen species of
obligately parasitic vines in the family
Lauraceae. Superficially, and in some aspects of their ecology, they closely resemble plants in the unrelated genus
Cuscuta, the
dodders. The physical resemblance is so close, when fruit and flowers are absent in the field, few people without technical training can tell them apart. The two genera present a spectacular example of
convergent evolution. In its divergence from
habits typical of the Lauraceae,
Cassytha also presents examples of
mosaic evolution 
