Acanthospermum hispidum
DC., Prodr. 5: 522. 1836; R.R. Rao et al., Fl. Ind.
Enum. Aster. 1. 1988.
Tam.: Kombumul, Mullichedi.
Herbs, erect, upto 50 cm high, hispidly hairy; stems diffusely branched, terete, covered with spreading, hirsute hairs and small glandular hairs. Leaves simple, opposite, elliptic, obovate to spathulate or oblanceolate, cuneate at base, margins decurrent, coarsely serrate, obtuse or acute at apex, 3 - 8 x 2 - 5 cm, scabrous, sessile or shortly petioled. Heads radiate, subsessile, 1 cm across. Involucral bracts in 2 series; outer 5, lanceolate, 4 - 4.5 mm long, pubescent; inner connate, 3 - 5 mm long, enveloping the ovary of ray florets, softly prickly with 2 long, straight apical awns. Ray florets 5 - 8, female; corolla yellowish-white, 3-lobed, 2 mm long. Styles puberulous, undivided. Disc florets 5 - 6 or 7, bisexual; corolla yellow, 1.5 - 2.5 mm long; tube 5-lobed, thinly papillose. Stamens 5; anthers linear with sagittate base. Style shortly bifid. Scales narrowly spathulate, 1.5 - 2 mm long. Achenes of ray florets black, triangular, enveloped by the inner bracts, with numerous lateral, hooked spinules or bristles and 2 large, straight or hooked, 3 - 4 mm long, apical, wide spreading spines; achenes of disc florets, glandular. Pappus absent.
Fl. & Fr. Jan. - June.
Distrib. India: A weed of fallowlands, widely distributed in plains ascending upto 1500 m. Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, S. America and S. Africa.
Herbs, erect, upto 50 cm high, hispidly hairy; stems diffusely branched, terete, covered with spreading, hirsute hairs and small glandular hairs. Leaves simple, opposite, elliptic, obovate to spathulate or oblanceolate, cuneate at base, margins decurrent, coarsely serrate, obtuse or acute at apex, 3 - 8 x 2 - 5 cm, scabrous, sessile or shortly petioled. Heads radiate, subsessile, 1 cm across. Involucral bracts in 2 series; outer 5, lanceolate, 4 - 4.5 mm long, pubescent; inner connate, 3 - 5 mm long, enveloping the ovary of ray florets, softly prickly with 2 long, straight apical awns. Ray florets 5 - 8, female; corolla yellowish-white, 3-lobed, 2 mm long. Styles puberulous, undivided. Disc florets 5 - 6 or 7, bisexual; corolla yellow, 1.5 - 2.5 mm long; tube 5-lobed, thinly papillose. Stamens 5; anthers linear with sagittate base. Style shortly bifid. Scales narrowly spathulate, 1.5 - 2 mm long. Achenes of ray florets black, triangular, enveloped by the inner bracts, with numerous lateral, hooked spinules or bristles and 2 large, straight or hooked, 3 - 4 mm long, apical, wide spreading spines; achenes of disc florets, glandular. Pappus absent.
Fl. & Fr. Jan. - June.
Distrib. India: A weed of fallowlands, widely distributed in plains ascending upto 1500 m. Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, S. America and S. Africa.
