9148.000 Xanthium L. - Cockleburs

Wild, H. (1967) The Compositae of the Flora Zambesiaca area. 1. Heliantheae. Kirkia 6(1) 1-62

Description of the genus

Monoecious annual herbs. Leaves alternate, crenate, deeply toothed or lobed. Capitula unisexual, discoid. Male capitula terminal, spherical, many-flowered; phyllaries few, free; receptacular scales present; corolla 5-dentate. Female capitula axillary, 2-flowered; involucre enclosing and surrounding the 2 flowers, covered with hooked bristles; corolla 0; pappus 0. Achenes obovoid or oblong, enclosed in the persistent hard involucre which bears many hooked spines.Unusual-looking plants, atypical for Asteraceae.

Derivation of name: from Greek: xanthos, meaning yellow, referring to the fruit which turn from green to yellow as they ripen.

Worldwide: c. 3 species, now cosmopolitan

Zimbabwe: 2 taxa.

Xanthium strumarium

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
spinosum L.W,CDescription, Image
strumarium L.N,W,C,SDescription, Image

Other sources of information about Xanthium:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Xanthium
Flora of Caprivi: Xanthium
Flora of Mozambique: Xanthium
Flora of Zambia: Xanthium

External websites:

ePIC (electronic Plant Information Center): Xanthium
Flora Zambesiaca web site: Xanthium
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
GRIN (Germplasm Resources Information Network) taxonomy for plants report for Xanthium
Wikipedia: Xanthium
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Xanthium
Kew Herbarium catalogue: Xanthium

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-23

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2023). Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Xanthium.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=1513, retrieved 25 March 2023

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