Cenchrus echinatus SEEDS

Cenchrus echinatus seeds grow into the southern sandbur or spiny burgrass an annual grass native to the seasonally dry tropical biome from central and southern USA south through Tropical and Subtropical America. Described by Linnaeus (1753). Animal food, food and medicinal uses recorded. The epithet echinatus means ‘hedgehog-like’ or ‘spiny’, referring to the distinctively spiny burr-like involucres that surround each spikelet these prickly burrs attach readily to clothing and animal fur, providing an effective long-distance seed dispersal mechanism. A warm-season annual grass of disturbed habitats, roadsides and agricultural fields. Widely naturalised outside its native range in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. Family Poaceae, subfamily Panicoideae.

Full sun; well-drained, dry to moderately moist soils; warm tropical to subtropical conditions; annual warm-season germinant.

• ‘Echinatus’ = hedgehog-like/spiny; spiny burr involucres attach to clothing and animal fur dispersal
• Linnaeus (1753); annual; warm-season; disturbed habitats; widely naturalised worldwide
• Central & S. USA to Tropical & Subtropical America seasonally dry tropical biome
• Food, animal food, medicinal uses; formerly Pennisetum; POWO merged; Family Poaceae (Panicoideae)
• Full sun; well-drained soils; warm tropical; annual; Family Poaceae

Cenchrus echinatus is the southern sandbur its spiny burr involucres one of the most effective animal-dispersal mechanisms of any grass, catching on fur and clothing to carry seeds far beyond the parent plant, an annual warm-season grass of disturbed habitats across the tropical and subtropical Americas now naturalised in warm regions worldwide.

IMPORTANT: Pictures show the adult plant, which is not for sale. The offer is only for seeds.