Acanthospermum hispidum DC.

Hispid Starbur; Bristly Starbur; Hispid Greenstripe

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Hispid Starbur is an introduced herbaceous annual species in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to South America. Hispid Starbur can be found in the southern half of the Alabama, particularly the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama. It occurs in row crops (especially cotton and peanuts), in hay fields, on roadsides, on sand bars along rivers, and in other disturbed areas. It is an annual with a tap root. Plants are from 1-2 feet in height. Stems are erect, green in color, branched, and pubescent. Leaves are opposite, petiolate, obovate in outline, with entire margins. The leaves are pubescent and gland dotted. Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are located in the forks of the branches. The outer 4-6 phyllaries are large and leaf-like. The heads have 5-8 pistillate flowers surrounding 3-8 functionally staminate flowers. The corollas are yellow in color. The fruit is an achene that is enclosed in a prickly perigynium with 2 terminal spines. The United States Department of Agriculture has identified Hispid Starbur through its weed risk assessment program as a High-Risk species for the United States. It has spread through the movement of hay from one area to another, and by its prickly fruit becoming attached to clothing or animal fur.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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