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

big sandbur

Habit Plants annual. Plants perennial.
Culms

20-100 cm, ascending from a geniculate base.

5-200 cm, stout, glaucous.

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.

from shorter than to equaling the internodes;

ligules 1.5-2(3.4) mm;

blades 12-40 cm long, 4-13 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely pilose adaxially.

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.

4-23 cm;

fascicles 3.8-8 mm long, 1.2-2.6 mm wide, composed of several whorls of bristles, not burlike;

bristles 3-5.8 mm long, 0.2-0.6 mm wide, fused only at the base, not forming a cupule, terete, increasing in size inwards, inner bristles pubescent on the lower 1/2 - 2/3.

Spikelets

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

1(2-3) per fascicle, 3.8-4.8(5.6) mm.

Caryopses

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

1.5-2.6 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, ovoid.

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.

glumes 1.5-3 mm;

upper glumes 3-5 mm, 3-5-veined;

lower lemmas 3-5.5 mm;

upper lemmas 3.8-5.4 mm;

anthers 0.8-2.2 mm.

2n

= (34), 68.

= (54), 70.

Cenchrus echinatus

Cenchrus myosuroides

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]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; SC; TX; PR
[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.)

Cenchrus myosuroides is a native species that grows mostly along roadsides and in other waste places. Its native range extends through the Caribbean and Central America to northern South America.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 531. FNA vol. 25, p. 534.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Cenchrus Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Cenchrus
Sibling taxa
C. biflorus, C. brownii, C. gracillimus, C. longispinus, C. myosuroides, C. spinifex, C. tribuloides
C. biflorus, C. brownii, C. echinatus, C. gracillimus, C. longispinus, C. spinifex, C. tribuloides
Synonyms C. echinatus var. hillebrandianus
Name authority L. Kunth
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