Citation: E. Greene, Pittonia 4:62 (1899).

Synonymy: X. orientale sensu J.H. Willis, Hdbk pl. Vic. 2:736 (1973), non L.

Common name: California burr.

Description:
Annual herb to 1.8 m high; stems erect, branched, hispid, unarmed; leaves ovate to triangular, shallowly 3-lobed, serrate, somewhat cordate at the base, 5-14 cm long, 5-15 cm wide, green and scabrous on both surfaces, prominently veined with 3 main veins, on petioles 3-8 cm long.

Inflorescences axillary and terminal, sessile, racemose, with 1-12 female and 0-7 male capitula in separate groups.

Fruiting capitulum ellipsoid, 15-20 mm long, glandularpubescent, pale-brown, with numerous hooked spines 3-5 mm long; beaks diverging at the base, incurved and hooked at the apex, 4-6 mm long.

	Leaf and burr.
Image source: fig. 651a in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).

Distribution:    N.S.W.; Vic.   Native to North America. Weed of land subject to occasional flooding, including irrigated land. Conservation status: naturalised Flowering time: Dec. — March.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Taxonomic notes: Xanthium californicum, X. orientale and X. chinense are parts of a complex within which entities are hard to separate, and which is sometimes known as X. strumarium L.

Author: Not yet available