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Sandburs are no one's friend. They are a form of grass with light green culms, round in section, up to 2.5' long; they are mostly covered by the sheaths of the alternate leaves. Each culm and upper branches (if any) terminate in a 4" long (3/4" across) raceme of 4-20 spiky burs. Each 1/4" diameter bur (excluding the spines) consists of 2-3 spikelets, each containing a fertile flower recognizable only by the stamens or styles protruding from the tip of the spikelets. The flowers are wind pollinated. This is the only sandbur in Illinois, so identification is easy (if not always painless).

Cenchrus

Cenchrus longispinus

sandbur [Blooms: Aug-?]