XANTHIUM STRUMARIUM

Family:- COMPOSITAE

Common Names:- Rough cocklebur

Synonyms:- Xanthium strumarium subsp. brasilicum

Meaning:- Xanthium (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides for Cocklebur, from which a yellow hair dye was made.

Strumarium (L) Cushion-like, swollen.

Stem:-

1) 20-120 cm, sometimes more, usually branched, unarmed.

Leaves:-

1) Long-petiolate.

2) Lamina broadly ovate to triangular, with a cordate or rarely cuneate base, entire,

or with 3-5 wide, coarsely serrate lobes, green and with short, stiff hairs on both

surfaces.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula in axillary clusters and sometimes also in a terminal, leafless

inflorescence, the male above the female.

2) Involucre in fruit with straight or hooked spines and distinct beaks.

Fruit:- Fruit-heads 8-12 mm, covered with dense, hooked spines.

Key features:-

1) Leaves long-petiolate, green beneath, without spines at the base of the petiole.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Damp, sandy coastal habitats, irrigation ditches, field margins and

wasteground, (nitrophilous). 0-400(-1100) m.

Distribution:- Widespread across the Mediterranean. Limited distribution and

occurrence on Crete. Introduced.

Flowering time:- (June-)July-Oct.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton