9148.000 Xanthium L. - Cockleburs

Monoecious annual herbs. Leaves alternate, crenate, deeply toothed or lobed. Capitula unisexual, discoid. Male capitula terminal, spherical, many-flowered; phyllaries few, free; receptacular scales present; corolla 5-dentate. Female capitula axillary, 2-flowered; involucre enclosing and surrounding the 2 flowers, covered with hooked bristles; corolla 0; pappus 0. Achenes obovoid or oblong, enclosed in the persistent hard involucre which bears many hooked spines.Unusual-looking plants, atypical for Asteraceae.

Derivation of name: from Greek: xanthos, meaning yellow, referring to the fruit which turn from green to yellow as they ripen.

Worldwide: c. 3 species, now cosmopolitan

Botswana: 2 taxa.