Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Xanthium orientale
FAMILY
Asteraceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Oriental Cocklebur is readily identified by its 3 cm long (or so), elliptical, dark brown fruits that are beset with hooked prickles. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
INCLUDED WITHIN
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Xanthium strumarium
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Xanthium strumarium
INCLUDED WITHIN How many names for a beloved genus? -- Coalescent-based species delimitation in Xanthium (Asteraceae) (Tomasello, 2018)
Xanthium orientale
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)
Xanthium strumarium
INCLUDED WITHIN Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Xanthium strumarium var. canadense
INCLUDED WITHIN Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Xanthium strumarium var. canadense
INCLUDING Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthium pensylvanicum
COMMON NAME:
Oriental Cocklebur
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_xape2_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_xast_004_lvd
)
USDA / Selected Weeds of the US. 1970 swus_page_445
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/14/23):
Xanthium orientale
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Xanthium strumarium
FAMILY
Asteraceae
INCLUDED WITHIN
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Xanthium strumarium
INCLUDED WITHIN
How many names for a beloved genus? -- Coalescent-based species delimitation in Xanthium (Asteraceae) (Tomasello, 2018)
Xanthium orientale
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Xanthium strumarium
INCLUDED WITHIN
Floristic Synthesis of North America (Kartesz, 1999)
Xanthium strumarium var. canadense
INCLUDED WITHIN
Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Xanthium strumarium var. canadense
INCLUDING
Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950)
Xanthium pensylvanicum
4372
Forb
Annual
Habitat: Disturbed ground, roadsides, pastures, barnyards, per Weakley's Flora
Original distribution unclear, widespread in e. N. America & nearly cosmopolitan
Common in GA Coastal Plain (uncommon to rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)
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 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
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".