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Central & S. U.S.A. to Tropical & Subtropical America: Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Arizona, Arkansas, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, California, Cayman Is., Central American Pac, Chile North, Chile South, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Desventurados Is., District of Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Florida, French Guiana, Galápagos, Georgia, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kansas, Kentucky, Leeward Is., Louisiana, Maryland, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, Netherlands Antilles, Nevada, New Mexico, Nicaragua, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Tennessee, Texas, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Uruguay, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Virginia, Windward Is.; Introduced into: Aldabra, Azores, Bangladesh, Borneo, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Caroline Is., Chagos Archipelago, China South-Central, China Southeast, Cocos (Keeling) Is., Cook Is., Czechoslovakia, Easter Is., Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Gilbert Is., Greece, Gulf States, Hainan, Hawaii, India, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon-Syria, Lesser Sunda Is., Line Is., Madagascar, Maine, Malaya, Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Mauritius, Mexican Pacific Is., Mozambique Channel I, Nansei-shoto, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Nigeria, Niue, Northern Territory, Oman, Palestine, Philippines, Phoenix Is., Rodrigues, Réunion, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Society Is., Solomon Is., South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vermont, Wake I., Wallis-Futuna Is. as per POWO;
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Common name: Spiny Burrgrass, Burrgrass, Burrweed, Southern Sandbur, Mossman River Grass
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Annual herbs; culms geniculate, 20-75 cm tall, tufted; nodes glabrous. Leaves 8-35 x 0.4-12 cm, linear-lanceolate, base rounded, apex acuminate, pilose on upper surface, scabrid on margins; sheaths keeled, to 12 cm long; ligule a row of hairs. Panicles spike-like, 4-10 cm long; rachis angular with sharp-edged decurrent wings, puberulous. Spikelets 3-5, 6-7 mm long, enclosed by a deciduous involucre of bristles; involucre to 8 mm long; bristles unequal, outer smaller, retrorsely barbed; lower glume c. 3 mm long, ovate, acute; upper glumes c. 5 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, 3-5 nerved. Lower floret male; upper floret bisexual; first lemma 5 – 6 mm long, ovate-lanceolate; palea c. 6 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, 2-nerved, delicate; second lemma c. 6 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acute, 5-nerved. Stamens 3; filaments 7-8 mm long. Ovary c. 1 mm long, globose; stigma plumose, c. 3 mm long, white. Grain 3-3.5 x 2.5-3 mm, ellipsoid.

Flowering and fruiting: October-March
Along sea coasts
Native of Tropical America; introduced in India and Sri Lanka
(Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi from India Biodiversity Portal)
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Submission of Cenchrus echinatus : 2 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (2)

Plant name: Cenchrus echinatus L., Sp. Pl. 1050. 1753.
Ver. names: Southern sandspur, Mossman river grass (Eng.)
Family: Poaceae
Description: Annual. Culms geniculately ascending; 15-60 cm tall. Leaf-blades 4–25 × 0.5-1cm linear-lanceolate, sheaths scabrous; ligule a fringe of hairs. Panicle spiciform 2-10cm long; axis angular; bearing deciduous spikelet clusters. Spikelets subtended by spiny cup-like involucre. Bristles red or purplish or entire spikelets purple. Fertile spikelets sessile; 2–3 in the cluster; ovate; dorsally compressed; acuminate; 5–7 mm long; falling entire. Inner bristles longer than outer; with longest bristle scarcely emergent; 2–5 mm long; rigid; retrorsely scaberulous; pubescent; spinose. Glumes dissimilar, shorter than spikelet; thinner than fertile lemma. Basal sterile florets barren; with palea. Fertile lemma ovate, coriaceous. Caryopsis with adherent pericarp; ellipsoid; dorsally compressed; 3 mm long.
Habitat & location: Occasional in dry sandy soils and low hills.
Photographed at Velugonda
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Thanks, …, for a new addition to efi.