Home » Plant Form » Herb » Acanthospermum hispidum

Acanthospermum hispidum

(Click image to Enlarge)

Photographs by: Dr. Maulik Gadani

  • Botanical Name : Acanthospermum hispidum DC.
  • Common Name : Bristly Starbur, Goat's Head
  • Plant Family : Asteraceae (Compositae)
  • Plant Form : Herb
  • Occurrence (Special Areas) : Aranya Van

About Acanthospermum hispidum Plant :

  • Habit : An annual erect herb.
  • Stem : Hispid, Dichotomously branched, suffruticose.
  • Leaves : Sessile or sub-sessile, obovate or spathulate, membranous, sub-hispid, sub-dentate, base cuneate, appressed-hairy.
  • Inflorescence : Head (Capitulum), pale-yellow, solitary, axillary or between forks of branches pedunculate.
  • Flowers :
    • Heterogamous, ray florets in one series, female; disc florets tubular, male; involucral bracts in one series, usually about 5 in number. Pappus 0.
    • The florets are all pale yellow.
  • Fruits : Achenes 4-8, tightly covered with prickly bracts of paleae,obconical, stellately arranged, glabrous, with hooked spines.
  • Flowering and Fruiting time : August - December
  • Significance : The plant is used in the treatment of leprosy.