9130.000 Acanthospermum Schrank

Wild, H. (1967) The Compositae of the Flora Zambesiaca area. 1. Heliantheae. Kirkia 6(1) 1-62

Description of the genus

Annual herbs (in ours). Leaves opposite, undulate or dentate. Capitula small, enlarging in fruit, solitary, radiate, heterogamous. Ray florets female, fertile with a very short yellowish ray; disk florets bisexual, sterile. Phyllaries in 2 series: outer herbaceous; inner covered in hooked spines, enveloping closely the achenes of the female flowers. Receptacle convex, with scales. Achenes of ray florets oblong, smooth, each tightly enfolded in one of the enlarged spiny phyllaries; achenes of disk florets abortive. Pappus 0.

Derivation of name: from Greek: acanthos meaning a thorn, sperma a seed, referring to the spiny achenes.

Worldwide: 6 species in tropical America; some introduced to Old World.

Zimbabwe: 3 taxa.

Links to taxa: View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

Species	FZ divisions	Content
australe (Loefl.) Kuntze	N,C,E	Description, Image
glabratum (DC.) Wild	N,C,E	Description, Image
hispidum DC.	N,W,C,E,S	Description, Image

Key to Species

Display key

Other sources of information about Acanthospermum:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Acanthospermum
Flora of Burundi: Acanthospermum
Flora of Caprivi: Acanthospermum
Flora of Malawi: Acanthospermum
Flora of Mozambique: Acanthospermum
Flora of Zambia: Acanthospermum

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Acanthospermum
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Acanthospermum
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Acanthospermum
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Acanthospermum
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Acanthospermum
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Acanthospermum
JSTOR Plant Science: Acanthospermum
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Acanthospermum
Plants of the World Online: Acanthospermum
Tropicos: Acanthospermum
Wikipedia: Acanthospermum