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.

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