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Southern Sandspur (Southern Sandbur), Cenchrus echinatus L.1
D. W. Hall, V. V. Vandiver, and J. A. Ferrell2
Classification
Common Name: Southern Sandspur (Southern Sandbur)
Scientific Name: Cenchrus echinatus L.
Family: Gramineae (Poaceae), Grass Family
Seedling
The blades are flat and like sandpaper on the upper surface ( Figure 1 ). The ligules are up to 1.6 mm long. The lower papery portion of the ligule is only 0.2 mm long and the fringe of hairs is up to 1.4 mm long.
Figure 1. Seedling, Southern Sandspur (Southern Sandbur), Cenchrus echinatus L. Mature Plant
Southern Sandspur is an annual with ascending stem tips from the lower nodes which bend and root ( Figure 2 ). The leaf sheaths are completely without hairs or can have long hairs along the margins. The blades lack hairs above and below, or can have long scattered hairs above. The seedheads are composed of spiny burs and are 3-14 cm long and 1-2 cm wide. The burs, excluding the spines, are 4.1-6.3 mm wide and 5.3-8.0 mm long to the tip of the spikelets. The spines are of two kinds: 1) flattened spines that are spread over the body of the bur and 2) fine slender bristle-like spines that are situated in a ring at the base of the bur. The seedheads appear throughout the year in the South and during the summer and fall in the North.
Figure 2. Mature plant, Southern Sandspur (Southern Sandbur), Cenchrus echinatus L. History
The name Cenchrus is from the Greek word for millet, cenchros. The Greek species name echinatus means armed with spines.Habitat
This weed occurs throughout Florida in turf, cultivated and disturbed areas; throughout warmer areas of the United States, from North Carolina to California; Mexico; Central America; South America; the West Indies; Pacific Islands; and Australia.Biology
The southeastern United States has two similar weedy sandspurs. These are Coast Sandspur (C. incertus) and the Southern Sandspur. Two kinds of spines on the bur of the Southern Sandspur separate it from the Coast Sandspur.
Footnotes
1. This document is an excerpt from Weeds in Florida, SP 37, a publication of the Agronomy Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Publication date: May 1991. Revised: February 2006. Reviewed: November 2006. Please visit the EDIS Website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.2. David W. Hall, former extension botanist, Herbarium, Florida Museum of Natural History; Vernon V. Vandiver, associate professor emeritus, Agronomy Department; Jason A. Ferrell, assistant professor, Agronomy Department; Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611.
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U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean.
Copyright Information
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