''Xanthium strumarium'' (rough cocklebur,
clotbur, common cocklebur, large cocklebur, woolgarie bur) is a species of annual plants of the family
Asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
. Some sources claim it originates in southern Europe and Asia, but has been extensively naturalized elsewhere. Others, such as the Flora of China and Flora of North America, state it originates in the Americas but was an early introduction to Eurasia.
Reproductive biology
The species is monoecious, with the flowers borne in separate unisexual heads: staminate (male) heads situated above the pistillate (female) heads in the inflorescence. The pistillate heads consist of two pistillate flowers surrounded by a spiny
involucre
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or o ...
. Upon fruiting, these two flowers ripen into two brown to black achenes and they are completely enveloped by the involucre, which becomes a
bur
A bur (also spelled burr) is a seed or dry fruit or infructescence that has hooks or teeth. The main function of the bur is to spread the seeds of the bur plant, often through epizoochory. The hooks of the bur are used to catch on to for exam ...
. The bur, being buoyant, easily disperses in the water for plants growing along waterways. However, the bur, with its hooked projections, is obviously adapted to dispersal via mammals by becoming entangled in their hair. Once dispersed and deposited on the ground, typically one of the seeds germinates and the plants grows out of the bur.
Toxic or medicinal phytochemistry
The plant may have some medicinal properties and has been used in traditional medicine in
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
and
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...
. In
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
, this plant is called Marula Matangi.
However, while small quantities of parts of the mature plants may be consumed, the seeds and seedlings should not be eaten in large quantities because they contain significant concentrations of the extremely toxic chemical
carboxyatractyloside
Carboxyatractyloside (CATR) is a highly toxic diterpene glycoside that inhibits the ADP/ATP translocase. It is about 10 times more potent than its analog atractyloside. While atractyloside is effective in the inhibition of oxidative phosphorylatio ...
. The mature plant also contains at least four other toxins.
*Animals have also been known to die after eating the plants.
*A patient consuming a traditional Chinese medicine containing cocklebur called ''Cang Er Zi Wan'' (苍耳子丸) developed muscle spasms.
* It was responsible for at least 19 deaths and 76 illnesses in
Sylhet District,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, 2007. People ate large amounts of the plants, locally called ''ghagra shak'', because they were starving during a
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...
flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
and no other plants were available. The symptoms included vomiting and altered mental states, followed by unconsciousness.
Gallery
File:Xanthium strumarium 000.jpg, Fruit
File:Xanthium strumarium 001.jpg, Leaves
File:Xanthium strumarium MHNT.BOT.2004.0.213.jpg, ''Xanthium strumarium'' – MHNT
See also
*
Arctium
''Arctium'' is a genus of biennial plants commonly known as burdock, family Asteraceae. Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced worldwide. Burdock's clinging properties, in addition to providing an excellent mecha ...
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q857159
strumarium
Flora of North America
Flora of Europe
Flora of temperate Asia
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Plants used in Native American cuisine
Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine
Plants used in traditional Native American medicine