Flora of North America species comparison

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Xanthium strumarium

Canada cocklebur, cocklebur, common cocklebur, lampourde glouteron, rough cocklebur, rough cockleburr
Habit Plants 10–80(–200) cm; nodal spines 0.
Leaves

petioles 20–100(–140+) mm;

blades suborbiculate to ± pentagonal or deltate, 4–12(–18+) × 3–10(–18+) cm, sometimes palmately 3–5-lobed, abaxial faces green, hirtellous.
Burs

10–30+ mm.
2n

= 36.

Xanthium strumarium
Phenology Flowering Jul–Oct.
Habitat Damp or seasonally wet, often alkaline, soils, waste places, margins of agriculture
Elevation 10–2000 m (0–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Mexico; Central America; South America [Widely introduced in Old World]
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Recognition of a dozen or more taxa (treated as species, subspecies, varieties, and/or forms) has been proposed for plants treated together here as Xanthium strumarium. Bases for the various taxa mostly involved subtle differences in the burs.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 19.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ambrosiinae > Xanthium
Sibling taxa
X. spinosum
Synonyms X. americanum, X. chasei, X. chinense, X. curvescens, X. cylindricum, X. echinatum, X. echinellum, X. globosum, X. inflexum, X. italicum, X. orientale, X. oviforme, X. pensylvanicum, X. speciosum, X. strumarium var. canadense, X. strumarium var. glabratum, X. varians, X. wootonii
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 987. (1753)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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