AMARANTHACEAE

Kyphocarpa angustifolia

Silky Burweed

Wildflowers

Local Context

This plant is common in Raptor's View and in the wider Lowveld, thriving as a (native) pioneer of disturbed soil. Often appearing after road construction or overgrazing, it relies on a "hitchhiking" strategy to spread. Its prickly fruit acts like natural Velcro, latching onto animal fur or hikers' socks to ferry its seeds to the next patch of bare earth.

Identification

Growth: Upright annual herb, usually growing 0.5–0.7 m tall (sometimes reaching 1 m).
Flowers: White or cream (rarely pinkish), arranged in dense, fluffy spikes that look like silky bottle brushes; these flower clusters contain sterile flowers that have been modified into sharp spines.
Leaves: Narrow and strip-like (1.5–7.5 cm long) with a sharp, pointed tip; the upper leaves often fold inward while the lower ones are usually flat.
Texture: The flower heads appear soft and silky (woolly) but contain hidden prickly spines (burrs).
Fruit: The flower parts dry into prickly burrs known which aid in dispersal.

Did You Know?

As part of a proper botanical drama, the name of Kyphocarpa angustifolia spent over a century in a vowel-induced identity crisis. It all started when Eduard Fenzl originally coined the name with a "K"—derived from the Greek kyphos for "humped"—only for Giuseppe Lopriore to swoop in in 1899 and insist on Cyphocarpa because he preferred a more "uniform" Latinised "C." This sparked a hundred-year spelling bee that left databases and botanists bickering until the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants finally intervened in 2023. They officially "conserved" the original "K" spelling, proving that even after 124 years of being forced into a "C," the plant’s true identity was just a committee meeting away from a comeback.

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