Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SANDBUR

File Size: 148 KB

Cenchrus longispinus (Hack. ) Fernald

Russell County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 8-32 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September

Also Called:

Long-spine sandbur.

Culms:

Erect or decumbent, tufted, flattened, often bent near bases.

Blades:

Flat, 2 to 10 inches long, less than 1/4 inch wide, rough; tips tapering to points.

Sheaths:

Glabrous, usually loose, flattened; margins sometimes hairy.

Ligules:

Short membranes, fringed with hairs.

Inflorescences:

Spikes, 1 to 3 inches long, terminal, sometimes partly enclosed by upper leaf, often purplish when mature; burs 6-20, hard, hairy, armed with 30-65 stout spines, enclosing 1-3 spikelets.

Spikelets:

2-flowered, upper floret perfect, lower floret sterile; glumes unequal; tips pointed; lemmas narrow, glabrous; tips pointed.

Habitat:

Waste areas, cultivated fields, roadsides, and lawns, on sandy or gravelly sites.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Forage Value:

It provides good forage when immature but has no forage value after it forms burs.

Comments:

Tufted. Sandbur is a common weed that sometimes forms large mats. The burs cling to clothing and fur and can injure the eyes, noses, and mouths of livestock.

Sandbur