Asteraceae
Xanthium

Xanthium spinosum L.

First published in Sp. Pl.: 987 (1753)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Central & E. Canada to Mexico, Peru to S. South America. It is an annual and grows primarily in the temperate biome. It is used as a poison and a medicine and for food.

Distribution

Native to:

Alabama, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Arizona, Bolivia, Brazil South, California, Chile Central, Chile North, Colombia, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Ecuador, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Juan Fernández Is., Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Paraguay, Pennsylvania, Peru, Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Uruguay, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia

Introduced into:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belgium, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, China North-Central, China Southeast, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Free State, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Gulf States, Hungary, India, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kirgizstan, Korea, Kriti, Krym, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon-Syria, Lesotho, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New South Wales, North Caucasus, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, NW. Balkan Pen., Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Primorye, Queensland, Rodrigues, Romania, Réunion, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, South Australia, Spain, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Tasmania, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Victoria, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zimbabwe

Synonyms

Homotypic Synonyms

Heterotypic Synonyms

Classification

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PAFTOL

Publications

POWO follows these authorities in accepting this name:

  • Dar, G.H. & Govaerts, R.H.A. (2025). Flora of Kashmir Himalaya: Sind Valley 2: 607-1262. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun, India.
  • Ghafoor, A. & al. (2021). Flora of Pakistan 224: 1-310. Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi.
  • Ghazanfar, S.A., Edmondson, J.R. & Hind, D.J.N. (eds.) (2019). Flora of Iraq 6: 1-458. Ministry of Agriculture & Agrarian Reform, Baghdad.
  • Hassler, M. & Muer, T. (2022). Flora Germanica: alle Farn- und Blütenpflanzen Deutschlands in Text und Bild 2: 865-1712. Verlag Regionalkultur, Uberstadt-Weiher.
  • Knapp, W.M. & Naczi, R.F.C. (2021). Vascular plants of Maryland, USA. A comprehensive account of the state's botanical diversity. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 113: 1-151.
  • Komiljon, T., Natalya, B., Avazbek, B., Dilnoza, A., Ziyoviddin, Y., Deng, T. & Sun, H. (2020). Flora of the Dzhizak Province, Uzbekistan: 1-523. China Forestry Publishing House.
  • Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.
  • Kozhevnikov, A.E., Kozhevnikov, Z.V., Kwak, M. & Lee, B.Y. (2019). Illustrated flora of the Primorsky Territory, Russian Far East: 1-1124. National institute of biological resources.
  • Krasnoborov, I.M. (ed.) (2007). Flora of Siberia 13: 1-499. Scientific Publishers, Inc., Enfield, Plymouth.
  • Mirek, Z., Piękoś-Mirkowa, H., Zając, A. & Zając, M (2020). Vascular plants of Poland an annotated checklist: 1-526. W. Szafer institute of botany, Polish academy of sciences, Krakow, Poland.
  • Nowak, A. & Nobis, M. (eds.) (2020). Illustrated Flora of Tajikistan and adjacent areas 1: 1-366. PAN, Polish academy of sciences.
  • Ri͡abinina, Z.N. & Kni͡azev, M.S. (2009). Opredelitel sosudistykh rastenii Orenburgskoi oblasti: 1-757. Moskva: KMK.
  • Roskov Y. & al. (eds.) (2018). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands.
  • Schäfer, H. (2021). Flora of the Azores a field guide: 1-445. Margraf Publishers GmbH.
  • Serapio, J. & al. (2023). Contribution to the alien flora of the Balearic Islands. Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d’Història Natural. Secció de botanica 87: 11-28.
  • Stace, C. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles ed. 4: 1-1266. C & M Floristics.
  • Stalažs, A. (2024). List of vascular plants of Latvia (with Latvian names): 1-312. Dobele.
  • Tomasello, S. (2018). How many names for a beloved genus? Coalescent-based species delimitation in Xanthium L. (Ambrosiinae, Asteraceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 127: 135-145.
  • Zhao, Y.Z., Zhao, L.Q. & Rui, C. (eds.) (2019). Flora Intramongolica, edition 3, 5: 1-451. Typis Intramongolicae popularis, Huhhot.
  • de Salas, MF, Baker, ML (2022). A Census of the Vascular Plants of Tasmania, including Macquarie Island: 1-161. Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart. https://flora.tmag.tas.gov.au/resources/census/.

Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

  • Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Flora of Iraq

  • Boissier, Fl. Orient. 3: 252 (1875)
  • Boulos & Hadidi, Weed Fl. Egypt: 45 (1984)
  • Boulos & Hind in Fl. Egypt 3: 227 (2002)
  • Collenette, Wild Flow. Saudi Arabia: 225 (1999)
  • D. Löve in Fl. Europ. 4: 143 (1976)
  • Dinsmore in Post, Fl. Syria, ed. 2, 2: 43 (1933)
  • Feinbrun-Dothan, Fl. Palaest. 3: 324 (1978)
  • Kupicha in Fl. Turkey 5: 48 (1975)
  • L., Sp. Pl.: 897 (1753)
  • Taifour & El-Oqlah, Pl. Jordan Ann. Checkl.: 49 (2017).
  • Täckholm, Stud. Fl. Egypt, ed. 2: 568 (1974)

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • (2023). https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jeanh/article/view/245890/232619. epublication.
  • Benedi, C. & al. (eds.) in Castroviejo, S. & al. (eds.) (2019). Flora Iberica 16(III): 1453-2353. Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC, Madrid.
  • Dar, G.H. & Govaerts, R.H.A. (2025). Flora of Kashmir Himalaya: Sind Valley 2: 607-1262. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun, India.
  • Ghafoor, A. & al. (2021). Flora of Pakistan 224: 1-310. Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi.
  • Kharkevich, S.S. (ed.) (1992). Plantae Vasculares Orientalis Extremi Sovietici 6: 1-428. Nauka, Leningrad.
  • Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.
  • Ri͡abinina, Z.N. & Kni͡azev, M.S. (2009). Opredelitel sosudistykh rastenii Orenburgskoi oblasti: 1-757. Moskva: KMK.
  • Stace, C. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles ed. 4: 1-1266. C & M Floristics.
  • Zhao, Y.Z., Zhao, L.Q. & Rui, C. (eds.) (2019). Flora Intramongolica, edition 3, 5: 1-451. Typis Intramongolicae popularis, Huhhot.

Flora of Somalia

  • Pickering, H. & Awale, A. I. (2018). Introduction to plants in Central Somaliland. Ponte Invisibile, Redsea Cultural Foundation.

Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

  • Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R., & Celis, M. (eds.). (2020). Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia. v1.1. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Dataset/Checklist. https://doi.org/10.15472/7avdhn
  • Diazgranados et al. (2021). Catalogue of plants of Colombia. Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project. In prep.
  • Diazgranados, M., Allkin, B., Black N., Cámara-Leret, R., Canteiro C., Carretero J., Eastwood R., Hargreaves S., Hudson A., Milliken W., Nesbitt, M., Ondo, I., Patmore, K., Pironon, S., Turner, R., Ulian, T. (2020). World Checklist of Useful Plant Species. Produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity.
  • FPI (2021). Food Plants International. https://fms.cmsvr.com/fmi/webd/Food_Plants_World?homeurl=https://foodplantsinternational.com/plants/
  • GRIN (2021). Germplasm Resources Information Network from the United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.ars-grin.gov/
  • Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) v.10 (2021); http://mpns.kew.org/
  • Plants for malaria, plants for fever: Medicinal species in Latin America, a bibliographic survey: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • RBG, Kew (2021). Kew Economic Botany Collection. https://ecbot.science.kew.org/

Other Data

Other Kew resources that provide information on this taxon:

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • EBC Common Names

    • Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection

  • Flora of Iraq

    • Ghazanfar, S. A., Edmondson, J. R. (Eds). (2013-2019). Flora of Iraq, Volumes 5.1, 5.2 and 6.0. Kew Publishing
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0