Xanthium italicum

Flower name
Xanthium italicum
Scientific name
Xanthium italicum
Aliasclotbur, ひっつき虫, 毬雄奈毛美
Place of originAmericas
Place of floweringFields and footpaths
Flowering seasonJuly, August, September, October

What is Xanthium italicum

Xanthium italicum is a wild annual grass of the department Asteraceae Xanthium genus native to Americas . After the war, was naturalized in Japan. Good stems with scattered red spots in the pale green branches and there are short spines. Broad egg-shaped with 3 shallow fissure and followed, and palmately lobed with branch leaves have serrated leaf edge. Flowers Monoecious Unisexual flowers of both sexes are. At the top of the flowers from the leaf axil male flowers give the female at the bottom. The male flowers are yellow on tufted small tube-shaped petals and stamens shedding finish the role. Degenerates female flowers with pale green petals, pistils only out of the masses. Dislodged from a branch with ripe fruit (fruit bract) which flowers after so far carried on the clothes of human or animal hair known as bug hittsuki.

Common name: :Xanthium italicum, scientific name:Xanthium italicum, aka:clotbur, cocklebur, bug hittsuki, Igaonamomi(japanese), Place of origin: North and South America, Southern Europe, Life distribution: coastal wasteland, near the coast, Grass height: 50 to 100 cm, Stem: Well branched, with short spines, Stem color: Light green with scattered red spots, Leaf shape: broadly ovate, 3 shallow lobes to palmate, Inflorescence: serrated, alternate leaflets, Petiole: as long as the leaf's height, dioecious,and hermaphroditic flowers, Flowering place: A single inflorescence with several male flowers on the upper part of the inflorescence and female stamens on the lower part of the inflorescence, coming from the leaf axils, Flowering season: July to October, Male flower heads: Yellow male flowers in clusters, which fall off when they finish their role, Petals of male flowers: Tubular petals with stamens and others, Male flower diameter: 0.5-0.6 cm, female flower head: pale green with thorns and a pistil that produces a pistil from a cluster of spines, Petals of female flowers: no petals, only stamens, Diameter of female flowers: 0.6 to 0.7 cm, Fruit type: lean fruit, fruit: bract, bract, Fruit shape: oval with dense spines on the surface and two beak-like spines at the tip; hairs: hairs on the fruit and spines, Fruit length: 2 to 3 cm.