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• True grasses
• Cenchrus longispinus

Cenchrus longispinus — long-spined sandbur

Facts

Long-spined sandbur is a native grass of southern New England, including the southern edges of the northern states (with a disjunct population in Chittenden County, Vermont). It is found in sandy soils and along railroads. It is protected in Maine and New Hampshire, and considered a noxious weed in California and Washington.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields, woodlands

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther length

  0.7–1 mm

  Anther number

  3

  Awn on glume

  the glume has no awn

  Floret lower bract texture

  the lemma is hard and firm

  Floret number

  1–2

  Floret types within spikelet

  • NA
  • there are at least two distinct forms of florets within one spikelet

  Glume relative length

  neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume veins

  • 1
  • 3
  • 5
  • 7 or more

  Inflorescence arrangement

  the spikelets are uniform

  Inflorescence axis orientation

  the inflorescence axis is straight

  Inflorescence branches

  • the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence
  • there are no branch points between the base of the inflorescence axis and the flowers, or they are not obvious

  Inflorescence length

  15–100 mm

  Inflorescence type (general)

  • the inflorescence is a spike, or is spike-like, lacking obvious branches
  • the spikelets are borne on stalks or on branches

  Inflorescence type (specific)

  the inflorescence is branched, and the branches do NOT both grow from the same side of the plant AND look like spikes

  Lemma awn base

  NA

  Lemma awn length

  0 mm

  Lemma awn number

  the lemma has no awn

  Lemma cross-section

  the lemma is flat or rounded if you cut across the midpoint

  Lemma surface

  the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)

  Lemma tip

  the lemma tip is a simple point, with or without an awn (long narrow extension ending in a point)

  Lemma vein number

  • 3
  • 5
  • 7 or more

  One or more florets

  • there is more than one floret per spikelet
  • there is one floret per spikelet

  Palea relative length

  palea is one half to fully as long as lemma

  Spikelet axis tip

  there is no extension of the spikelet axis beyond the tip of the spikelet

  Spikelet length

  4–7.8 mm

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets appear spiny and bur-like

  Upper glume shape

  the upper glume is widest at or below the middle

• Leaves

  Leaf auricles

  the leaves do not have auricles

  Leaf blade width

  1.5–7.5 mm

  Leaf ligule length

  0.6–1.3 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane with fine hairs

  Leaf sheath closed around stem

  the margins of the leaf sheath are overlapping and not fused together except in the basal half (or less)

  Leaf sheath hair type

  there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

  Leaf sheath hairs

  there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields
  • woodlands

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Stem spacing

  the stems grow close together in compact clusters or tufts

Wetland status

Occurs only in non-wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: UPL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae