Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Xanthium chinense
FAMILY
Asteraceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Check out EDDMapS.org to see where this has been reported.
Common Cocklebur is readily identified by its 1-2cm long, elliptical, tan or light brown fruits that are beset with straight and hooked prickles -- that easily stick to clothing. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
The seeds were a food source for the now extinct Carolina Parakeet. Read more at North Carolina Extension: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/xanthium-strumarium/
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Xanthium strumarium var. glabratum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Xanthium strumarium
SYNONYMOUS WITH How many names for a beloved genus? -- Coalescent-based species delimitation in Xanthium (Asteraceae) (Tomasello, 2018)
Xanthium chinense
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)
Xanthium strumarium
INCLUDED WITHIN Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Xanthium strumarium
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-03-002b:
Xanthium strumarium var. glabratum FAMILY Asteraceae
INCLUDING Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthium chinense
INCLUDING Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthium globosum
INCLUDING Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthium inflexum
COMMON NAME:
Common Cocklebur
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_xaam2_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_xain_001_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm150226_737
February Pickens County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm150226_737b
February Pickens County SC
Phyllaries mostly hooked, the whole becoming a hard prickly perigynium (bur), per Flora of North America.
)
JK Marlow jkm250429_0164
April Greenville County SC
Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area
)
JK Marlow jkm130928_750
September Spartanburg County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm130928_750b
September Spartanburg County SC
Leaf blade broadly ovate to roughly orbicular, base cordate or nearly so, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).
)
Gill Newberry gn10_x_cocklebur
October
Female flowers enclosed by the involucre, forming a bur w hooked bristles, per Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999).
)
Gill Newberry gn10_x_strumarium
October
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Xanthium chinense
FAMILY
Asteraceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Xanthium strumarium var. glabratum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Xanthium strumarium
SYNONYMOUS WITH
How many names for a beloved genus? -- Coalescent-based species delimitation in Xanthium (Asteraceae) (Tomasello, 2018)
Xanthium chinense
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Xanthium strumarium
INCLUDED WITHIN
Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Xanthium strumarium
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-03-002b:
Xanthium strumarium var. glabratum
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDING
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthium chinense
INCLUDING
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthium globosum
INCLUDING
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthium inflexum
1678
Forb
Annual
Habitat: Barnyards, pastures, bottomlands, other disturbed areas, per Weakley's Flora
Original distribution unclear, but probably native to eastern North America
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
IS THE PLANT "ARMED"?
Leaf axils lack spines; fruits are beset with straight and hooked prickles
LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Staminate corollas greenish-brown
Staminate corollas 5-lobed; pistillate flowers without corollas
Inferior ovary
Unisexual
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Black
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p402
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p551
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p459?
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p120
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