Xanthium spinosum L. Spiny Cocklebur

Xanthium spinosum L. - Spiny Cocklebur

Scientific Description:

Much-branched annual, 15−100 cm. Leaves sessile to shortly petiolate, 2−5 cm, 3−5-fid, dark green above and white-to grey-tomentose beneath, borne on short shoots subtended by (1−)2 trifid yellow spines (modified leaves). Capitula solitary, sessile in leaf axils, male borne at ends of branches. Fruiting involucre 10−15 × 7−9 mm (incl. spines), arachnoid; spines hooked; beaks acicular, one longer than other.

 

Flowering time: August−October.

Habitat: Dry slopes, waste places, 10−1750 m.

 

Reference:
Kupicha FK (1975). Xanthium spinosum L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 5: 48.

Public Description:

Xanthium spinosum, known as “spiny cocklebur”, is native range is not known but it may have come from South America. It has a cosmopolitan spread around the world and is known as a noxious weed that grows in disturbed habitats. It is a herbaceous plant with a length of one meter, and characterized by its hooked spines on fruits. It is a short-day plant, that is, it blooms in late summer and autumn when days are getting shorter.

 

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthium_spinosum, Accessed date: 02.02.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). https://wiki.bugwood.org/Xanthium_spinosum, Accessed date: 02.02.2016.

Ekim T (2012). Xanthium L. In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 216.