Code
LNECO
Growth form
Broadleaf
Biological cycle
Vivacious
Habitat
Terrestrial
LNECO
Growth form
Broadleaf
Biological cycle
Vivacious
Habitat
Terrestrial
🗒 Synonyms
| synonym | Lactuca farinentula (Chiov.) Cufod |
| synonym | Lactuca farinulenta (Chiov.) Cufod. |
| synonym | Launaea courtetiana O.Hoffm. & Muschl. |
| synonym | Launaea exauriculata (Oliv. & Hiern) Amin ex Boulos |
| synonym | Launaea farinentula Chiov. |
| synonym | Launaea farinulenta Chiov. |
| synonym | Launaea virgata O.Hoffm. & Muschl. |
| synonym | Prenanthes somaliensis C.Jeffrey |
| synonym | Sonchus bipontini var. exauriculatus Oliv. & Hiern |
| synonym | Sonchus bipontini var. pinnatifidus Oliv. & Hiern |
| synonym | Sonchus cornutus Hochst. ex Oliv. & Hiern |
| synonym | Sonchus cornutus Hochst. ex Steud. |
| synonym | Sonchus exauriculatus (Oliv. & Hiern) O.Hoffm. |
| synonym | Sonchus kabarensis De Wild. |
| synonym | Sonchus oliveri-hiernii Boulos |
🗒 Common Names
| English |
|
📚 Overview
Description
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Global description
Launaea cornuta is a very deep rooted plant that exudes white latex when cut. The leaves are alternate, simple and sessile, presenting on the margin very irregular teeth. The flowers are assembled in flower heads all ligulate and yellow. The bracts of the involucre have appendages. The fruit is a strongly streaked achene and surmounted by a pappus of white silks.
Seedling
In this species, it is very rare to encounter germinated seedlings. The young plants observed come from the start of buds on an underground taproot that remain latent throughout the dry season. The young plant has a rosette habit, whose internodes lengthen very rapidly.
First leaves
The first leaves are alternate, simple. They are sessile. The blade is linear to elliptical, the base is attenuated on a pseudo-petiole to the point of insertion on the stem, the apex is cunate. The margin is irregularly toothed.
General habit
Launaea cornuta is erect. The plant can develop in a simple axis at the base and then branched at the top and at the level of the inflorescence. It is also found in tuft at the base, especially during the rainy season when several underground buds grow simultaneously. It can reach 60 cm in height.
Underground system
The root consists of a vertical rhizome 2 or 3 mm thick which can descend to several tens of centimeters deep and from which new stems appear.
Stem
The stem is cylindrical and solid. It is glabrous and very finely streaked longitudinally. A white latex flows out when cut.
Leaf
The leaves are alternate and simple. They are sessile, of linear to elliptical shape. They are usually narrow at the base and top of the plant and broad in the middle part of the plant. They are 8 to 20 cm long and 1 to 10 cm wide. The base of the lamina is attenuated on the pseudo-petiole, the summit is cunate. The margin is very irregularly toothed. On the broad leaves, the teeth can become lobes at the acute summit. Both sides of the lamina are glabrous and the secondary veins are not very visible.
Inflorescence
The flowers are assembled in numerous small heads on a loose and abundantly branched inflorescence. The flower heads have an involucre of bracts arranged on 3 or 4 rows. The bracts are lanceolate. Their length is increasing from 4 to 12 mm from the outer row to the inner row. The apex of the bracts is provided with 4 to 8 small glandular appendages, curved in butts and situated along the main nerve.
Flower
All flowers are ligulate, 13-15 mm long and yellow in color. The top of the ligule is formed of 5 teeth. The style is bifid.
Fruit
The fruits are cylindrical achenes 3 mm high. The tegument is covered with 10 to 12 longitudinal denticulate wrinkles. The achene is surmounted by a pappus made of numerous finely pubescent white bristles, 7 mm long.
Launaea cornuta is a very deep rooted plant that exudes white latex when cut. The leaves are alternate, simple and sessile, presenting on the margin very irregular teeth. The flowers are assembled in flower heads all ligulate and yellow. The bracts of the involucre have appendages. The fruit is a strongly streaked achene and surmounted by a pappus of white silks.
Seedling
In this species, it is very rare to encounter germinated seedlings. The young plants observed come from the start of buds on an underground taproot that remain latent throughout the dry season. The young plant has a rosette habit, whose internodes lengthen very rapidly.
First leaves
The first leaves are alternate, simple. They are sessile. The blade is linear to elliptical, the base is attenuated on a pseudo-petiole to the point of insertion on the stem, the apex is cunate. The margin is irregularly toothed.
General habit
Launaea cornuta is erect. The plant can develop in a simple axis at the base and then branched at the top and at the level of the inflorescence. It is also found in tuft at the base, especially during the rainy season when several underground buds grow simultaneously. It can reach 60 cm in height.
Underground system
The root consists of a vertical rhizome 2 or 3 mm thick which can descend to several tens of centimeters deep and from which new stems appear.
Stem
The stem is cylindrical and solid. It is glabrous and very finely streaked longitudinally. A white latex flows out when cut.
Leaf
The leaves are alternate and simple. They are sessile, of linear to elliptical shape. They are usually narrow at the base and top of the plant and broad in the middle part of the plant. They are 8 to 20 cm long and 1 to 10 cm wide. The base of the lamina is attenuated on the pseudo-petiole, the summit is cunate. The margin is very irregularly toothed. On the broad leaves, the teeth can become lobes at the acute summit. Both sides of the lamina are glabrous and the secondary veins are not very visible.
Inflorescence
The flowers are assembled in numerous small heads on a loose and abundantly branched inflorescence. The flower heads have an involucre of bracts arranged on 3 or 4 rows. The bracts are lanceolate. Their length is increasing from 4 to 12 mm from the outer row to the inner row. The apex of the bracts is provided with 4 to 8 small glandular appendages, curved in butts and situated along the main nerve.
Flower
All flowers are ligulate, 13-15 mm long and yellow in color. The top of the ligule is formed of 5 teeth. The style is bifid.
Fruit
The fruits are cylindrical achenes 3 mm high. The tegument is covered with 10 to 12 longitudinal denticulate wrinkles. The achene is surmounted by a pappus made of numerous finely pubescent white bristles, 7 mm long.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
No Data
📚 Nomenclature and Classification
No Data
📚 Natural History
Life Cycle
Northern Cameroon: Launaea cornuta is present throughout the rainy season on the non flloded plots and during a large part of the dry season on the temporarily flooded plots. In rainfed culture, the development of latent buds is possible from the first rains of May until the last rains of November. This start-up phase has peaks in the emergence of new axes after each cultural operation (plowing, weeding, hilling). Flowering and fruiting occurs between 4 and 10 weeks after the appearance of these axes. Aerial organs dry out during the dry season (January-February) when the soil dries up.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
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Cyclicity
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Launaea cornuta is mainly a vivacious geophyte species. It spends the bad season (dry season for the plots always unfllooded, season of rains for the temporarily flooded plots) thanks to its very deep taproot. It multiplies vegetatively by development of the buds located on the taproot. Although it produces many seeds, it seems that their germination capacity is very low because seedlings resulting from germination are very rare.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
Look Alikes
Launaea cornuta can be confused with Launaea taraxacifolia, but in the latter species the inflorescences are more dense, the bracts of the involucre have no appendages and the achenes have a short beak.
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
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Physiology
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Ecology
Northern Cameroon: Launaea cornuta is a characteristic species of soils with a high clay content (greater than 40%) and a basic pH (close to 8), such as vertic soils or highly clay-rich fersialitic soils. It develops as a weed of rainfed crops in plots that are still being unflooded, but also in off-season crops (sorghum, vegetables) on temporarily flooded plots and along river banks.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
📚 Habitat and Distribution
Description
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Worldwide distribution
Launaea cornuta occurs only in Central and East Africa.
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
No Data
📚 Occurrence
No Data
📚 Demography and Conservation
Risk Statement
Local harmfulness
North Cameroon: Launaea cornuta is an infrequent weed in rainfed crops (cotton, sorghum, maize) due to its very strict ecological conditions, but generally very abundant. It is considered a local major weed. This species is all the more abundant as the cultural maintenance operations are numerous. Any intervention that consists in cutting the plant at the surface of the soil results in the start of several buds from the taproot, remained latent. Thus several new axes are developing. By this process, L. cornuta spreads in concentric spots in the plot until it completely invades it. Plowing, by breaking rhizomes, only accelerates the propagation of the plant. When it is present in vegetable crops, it quickly becomes a plague, forcing the farmer to abandon the plot after a few years of cultivation.
North Cameroon: Launaea cornuta is an infrequent weed in rainfed crops (cotton, sorghum, maize) due to its very strict ecological conditions, but generally very abundant. It is considered a local major weed. This species is all the more abundant as the cultural maintenance operations are numerous. Any intervention that consists in cutting the plant at the surface of the soil results in the start of several buds from the taproot, remained latent. Thus several new axes are developing. By this process, L. cornuta spreads in concentric spots in the plot until it completely invades it. Plowing, by breaking rhizomes, only accelerates the propagation of the plant. When it is present in vegetable crops, it quickly becomes a plague, forcing the farmer to abandon the plot after a few years of cultivation.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
📚 Uses and Management
Management
Local control
Northern Cameroon:
Chemical control :, the postemergence herbicides are very insufficient to control Launaea cornuta because once the leaves are dried, the underground buds restart and reconstitute the population. Systemic products are more effective.
Biological control : the fungus Septoria launaeae S.E. Khan & Kamal has shown some efficacy in regulating populations. The first symptoms appear in August on leaves, in the form of necrotic spots, with concentric circles of picnid. These spots then develop on the stem and the root. It follows a blackening and a complete desiccation of the plant in September. The impact of this attack goes locally into an almost complete elimination of the Launaea cornuta population.
Northern Cameroon:
Chemical control :, the postemergence herbicides are very insufficient to control Launaea cornuta because once the leaves are dried, the underground buds restart and reconstitute the population. Systemic products are more effective.
Biological control : the fungus Septoria launaeae S.E. Khan & Kamal has shown some efficacy in regulating populations. The first symptoms appear in August on leaves, in the form of necrotic spots, with concentric circles of picnid. These spots then develop on the stem and the root. It follows a blackening and a complete desiccation of the plant in September. The impact of this attack goes locally into an almost complete elimination of the Launaea cornuta population.
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
📚 Information Listing
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
References
- Le Bourgeois, T. and H. Merlier (1995). Adventrop - Les adventices d'Afrique soudano-sahélienne. Montpellier, France, Cirad.637p.
- Le Bourgeois Th. & Beix Y., 1993. De l'écologie à la lutte chimique ou biologique, l'exemple de Launaea chevalieri O.Hoffm. & Muschl. au Nord-Cameroun. C.R. 4ème Conf. Int. IFOAM, Dijon, France : 227-232. http://portal.wikwio.org/document/show/144
- Hutchinson J., Dalziel J. M., Keay R. W. J. & Hepper F. N., 1963. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Vol. II. 2ème éd. The Whitefriars Press ed., London & Tonbridge, 544p.
- Braun M., Burgstaller H., Hamdoun A. M. & Walter H., 1991. Common weeds of Central Sudan. GTZ, Verlag Josef Margraf ed. Scientific Book, Weikersheim, Germany, 329p.
- Plants of the World Online https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:229002-1
- Le Bourgeois Th., 1993. Les mauvaises herbes dans la rotation cotonnière au Nord-Cameroun (Afrique) - Amplitude d'habitat et degré d'infestation - Cycle de développement. Thèse USTL Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 241p.
- The Wolrd Flora Online https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000078105
- Grard, P., T. Le Bourgeois, J. Rodenburg, P. Marnotte, A. Carrara, R. Irakiza, D. Makokha, G. kyalo, K. Aloys, K. Iswaria, N. Nguyen and G. Tzelepoglou (2012). AFROweeds V.1.0: African weeds of rice Montpellier, France & Cotonou, Bénin, Cirad-AfricaRice eds
Uses and Management > Management
- http://portal.wikwio.org/document/show/144
Information Listing > References
- Le Bourgeois, T. and H. Merlier (1995). Adventrop - Les adventices d'Afrique soudano-sahélienne. Montpellier, France, Cirad.637p.
- Le Bourgeois Th. & Beix Y., 1993. De l'écologie à la lutte chimique ou biologique, l'exemple de Launaea chevalieri O.Hoffm. & Muschl. au Nord-Cameroun. C.R. 4ème Conf. Int. IFOAM, Dijon, France : 227-232. http://portal.wikwio.org/document/show/144
- Hutchinson J., Dalziel J. M., Keay R. W. J. & Hepper F. N., 1963. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Vol. II. 2ème éd. The Whitefriars Press ed., London & Tonbridge, 544p.
- Braun M., Burgstaller H., Hamdoun A. M. & Walter H., 1991. Common weeds of Central Sudan. GTZ, Verlag Josef Margraf ed. Scientific Book, Weikersheim, Germany, 329p.
- Plants of the World Online https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:229002-1
- Le Bourgeois Th., 1993. Les mauvaises herbes dans la rotation cotonnière au Nord-Cameroun (Afrique) - Amplitude d'habitat et degré d'infestation - Cycle de développement. Thèse USTL Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 241p.
- The Wolrd Flora Online https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000078105
- Grard, P., T. Le Bourgeois, J. Rodenburg, P. Marnotte, A. Carrara, R. Irakiza, D. Makokha, G. kyalo, K. Aloys, K. Iswaria, N. Nguyen and G. Tzelepoglou (2012). AFROweeds V.1.0: African weeds of rice Montpellier, France & Cotonou, Bénin, Cirad-AfricaRice eds
Images
Herbarium pictures ReCOLNAT: https://explore.recolnat.org/search/botanique/simplequery=Launaea%2520cornuta
Thomas Le Bourgeois
| Attributions | |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
🐾 Taxonomy
| Root | Root |
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Asterales |
| Family | Asteraceae |
| Genus | Launaea |
| Species | Launaea cornuta (Hochst. ex Oliv. & Hiern) C.Jeffrey |
📊 Temporal Distribution
📷 Related Observations
