Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Xanthium spinosum

clotbur, lampourde épineuse, spiny clotbur, spiny cocklebur, spiny cockleburr
Habit Plants 10–60(–120+) cm; nodal spines usually in pairs, simple or 2–3-partite, 15–30+ mm.
Leaves

petioles 1–15(–25+) mm;

blades ± ovate to lanceolate or lance-linear, 4–8(–12+) × 1–3(–5+) cm, often pinnately 3(–7+)-lobed, abaxial faces gray to white, densely strigose.
Burs

10–12(–15+) mm.
2n

= 36.

Xanthium spinosum
Phenology Flowering Jul–Oct.
Habitat Damp or seasonally wet, alkaline soils, waste places, margins of agriculture
Elevation 10–1000 m (0–3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; MT; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WV; NB; ON; QC; SK; Mexico; Central America; South America; widely established in Old World
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Some authors have contended that Xanthium spinosum originated in South America and is introduced and/or naturalized everywhere else that it is found.

(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. strumarium
Synonyms X. ambrosioides, X. spinosum var. inerme
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(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.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers