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Star Burr

Acanthospermum australe ?

a low growing composite with burr seeds, Acanthospermum, photo © by Michael Plagens

Herbaceous weed growing a few cm tall in a pasture environment. Eldoret, Kenya, Africa. January 2012.

HERBACEOUS: Low growing and mostly herbaceous; often prostrate.

FLOWERS: Pale cream colored flowers are set in small heads. The heads have male flowers clustered at center and the female (seed producing) around perimeter.

LEAVES: Leaves are oblong to deltoid. The margins appear wavy.

FRUIT: The bracts subtending the pistillate flower and seed are set with numerous hooked projections. The long spur characterisitic of Acanthospermum hispidum was not present.

RANGE: This plant is native to the Neotropics and no doubt was transported unintentionally.

UNARMED. The plant itself lacks thorns.

Asteraceae -- Sunflower Family

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Kenya Natural History

Copyright Michael J. Plagens, Created on 14 July 2012