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Rough Cocklebur

Xanthium strumarium

Summary 9

Xanthium strumarium (rough cocklebur, clotbur, common cocklebur, large cocklebur, woolgarie bur) is a species of annual plants belonging to the Asteraceae family. It probably originates in North America and has been extensively naturalized elsewhere.

Toxic or medicinal phytochemistry 10

The plant may have some medicinal properties and has been used in traditional medicine in South Asia and traditional Chinese medicine. In Telugu, this plant is called Marula Matangi.

However, while small quantities of parts of the mature plants may be consumed, the seeds and seedlings should not be eaten in large quantities because they contain significant concentrations of the extremely toxic chemical carboxyatratyloside. The mature plant also contains at least four other toxins.

Reproductive biology 10

The species is monoecious, with the flowers borne in separate unisexual heads: staminate (male) heads situated above the pistillate (female) heads in the inflorescence. The pistillate heads consist of two pistillate flowers surrounded by a spiny involucre. Upon fruiting, these two flowers ripen into two brown to black achenes and they are completely enveloped by the involucre, which becomes a bur. The bur, being buoyant, easily disperses in the water for plants growing along waterways. However, the bur, with its hooked projections, is obviously adapted to dispersal via mammals by becoming entangled in their hair. Once dispersed and deposited on the ground, typically one of the seeds germinates and the plants grows out of the bur.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/photos/cocklebur2.jpg
  2. (c) Dinesh Valke, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/91314344@N00/2958242609
  3. (c) 2011 Barry Breckling, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=372222&one=T
  4. (c) "<a href=""http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/WLI/"">USDA NRCS Wetland Science Institute</a>.", some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=xast_001_avp.tif
  5. (c) 2003 Keir Morse, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=132494&one=T
  6. (c) 2008 Keir Morse, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=268820&one=T
  7. (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/photos/cocklebur1.jpg
  8. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.biopix.com/PhotosMedium/JCS%20Xanthium%20strumarium%2033525.jpg
  9. Adapted by Kate Wagner from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthium_strumarium
  10. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthium_strumarium

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