Cenchrus

Hemp sesbania Sesbania exalta (Raf.) Cory, hairy nightshade Solanum sarrachoides Sendtner), longspine sandbur Cenchrus longispinus (Hack.) Fern., Kochia Kochia scoparia (L.) Schrad., shepherd s-purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.), green foxtail Setaria viridis (L.) P. Beauv. 

Powell RG, Plattner RD, Yates SG. Ergobalansine, a new ergot-type peptide alkaloid isolated from Cenchrus echinatus (Sandbur grass) infected with Balansia obtecta, and produced in liquid cultures of B obtecta and Balansia cyperi. J Nat Prod 53(5) 1272-1279, 1990. 

Loveless (1964) found the conidia of C. fusiformis as the falcate type on the species of Cenchrus ciliaris, P. typhoideum and P. maximum. Ramakrishnan (1952) successfully cross-inoculated C. fusiformis from six species of Pennisetum to species of Cenchrus and Urochloa. 

One section of the Panicoideae (the tribe Paniceae) acquired C4 photosynthesis shortly before South America was separated from the rest of Gondwana in the Late Cretaceous. In the then isolated South America, Paniceae became dominant. C3 photosynthesis was retained in apparently more primitive shade loving species (Oplismenus, Icnanthus, and some species of Panicum) whereas C4 species colonized open habitats in the tropical and subtropical zones (e.g. Paspalum, Cenchrus, Brachiaria, Pennisetum). 

Cenchrus (sand bur) Prostrate growth habit, 0.5-cm spiny burs Dry to moist soils throughout the United States... 

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