刺苞果 ci bao guo

Annual herbs, coarse, erect, to 1.3 m tall. Stems poorly branched, hispid. Leaves sessile or shortly petiolate; blade oblong or obovate, 10-100 × 5-40 mm, both surfaces hispid and gland-dotted, margin subentire and repand- or coarsely dentate. Capitula ± sessile. Achenes compressed and wedge-shaped, narrowing toward base, 5-6 mm with 2 divergent terminal spines 4-5 mm, straight or somewhat hooked; fruit body covered with shorter, hooked spines. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

A weed of streamsides, roadsides, and waste slopes; below 1900 m. Guangdong, Yunnan [native to South America; naturalized elsewhere].

In FRPS (75: 333. 1979) the name Acanthospermum australe (Loefling) Kuntze was misapplied to A. hispidum. True A. australe differs by having stems ascending or procumbent, capitula mostly pedunculate, and achenes oblong-fusiform and ribbed, with uniform-length hooked spines throughout. No Chinese material agreeing with A. australe has been seen by the present authors.