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burgrass, common sandbur, field sandbur, konpeito-gusa, sandburr, se mbulabula, southern sandbur, vao tui tui

Habit Plants annual.
Culms

20-100 cm, ascending from a geniculate base.

Sheaths

from shorter than to equaling the internodes, compressed;

ligules 0.7-1.7 mm;

blades 4-18(35) cm long, 2-10(14.2) mm wide, adaxial surfaces sparsely pilose, hairs papillose-based.

Panicles

2.5-12 cm;

rachis internodes 2-4 mm;

fascicles 5-10 mm long, 3.5-6(6.3) mm wide, imbricate;

outer bristles 10-20, terete, the majority no more than 1/2 as long as the inner bristles;

inner bristles 2-5 mm long, 0.6-1.5 mm wide, flattened, not grooved, mostly erect, fused for at least 1/2 their length into a globose cupule, sometimes interlocking at maturity, shortly pubescent, often purple at maturity.

Spikelets

2-3(4) per fascicle, 4.8-7 mm.

Caryopses

ovoid, 1.2-3.2 mm long, 1.3-2.2 mm wide.

Lower

glumes 1.3-3.4 mm;

upper glumes 3.8-5.7 mm, 3-7-veined;

lower lemmas 4.5-6.5 mm;

upper florets 4.7-7 mm;

anthers 0.8-2.4 mm.

2n

= (34), 68.

Cenchrus echinatus

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AZ; CA; DC; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NM; OK; SC; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cenchrus echinatus grows in disturbed areas throughout the coastal plain and piedmont of the southern United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and, as an unwelcome introduction, elsewhere.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 531.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Cenchrus
Sibling taxa
C. biflorus, C. brownii, C. gracillimus, C. longispinus, C. myosuroides, C. spinifex, C. tribuloides
Synonyms C. echinatus var. hillebrandianus
Name authority L.
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