Family: Asteraceae
Xanthium spinosum
Citation:
L., Sp. Pl. 987 (1753).
Synonymy: Not Applicable Common name: Bathurst burr.
Description:
Annual herb to 1 m high; stems erect, densely branched, softly pubescent; spines 1 or 2 at the base of each leaf, 3-fid, straight, 0.7-2.5 cm long, yellowish; leaves narrowly rhomboid to lanceolate, entire or with a long central lobe and 2 shorter lateral lobes, narrowed at the base, 3-8 cm long, 0.8-2 cm wide, dark-green and slightly pubescent above, densely whitish-felted below, prominently veined with 1 or 3 main veins, on petioles to 1 cm long.
Male inflorescences terminal, with 2-8 capitula, 6-8 mm diam.; female capitula axillary, sessile, usually solitary.
Fruiting capitulum ellipsoid to ovoid, 10-12 mm long, pubescent, brown, with numerous hooked spines c. 3 mm long; beaks straight, conical, 1-2 mm long.
| Flowering branch, male capitulum and burr.
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Image source: fig. 651c in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Published illustration:
Cunningham et al. (1982) Plants of western New South Wales, p. 727.
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Distribution:
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A weed of pastures and roadsides, especially on land subject to occasional flooding.
S.Aust.: LE, GT, FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, KI, SE. All States. Probably native to tropical America.
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Conservation status:
naturalised
Flowering time: most of the year.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
A noxious weed.
Author:
Not yet available
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