"Cassytha" is best known for its parasitic habit, and the various species are neither prominent as crop plants, nor as beneficial plants at all. However, species within the genus do have minor uses in rural communities around the world. For example, the fruit of various species are eaten, both by birds and by humans, and "C. melantha" in particular has been documented as a wild-harvested Australian indigenous food. In the Caribbean region, "C. filiformis" is one of the plant species known as love vine, because it has a reputation as an aphrodisiac.