Acaena echinata

Sheeps Burr at Harrison, ACT

Request use of media

Identification history

	Acaena echinata	7 May 2025	Tapirlord
	Acaena echinata	7 May 2025	lbradley

Identify this sighting

Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

3 comments

brunonia wrote:

7 May 2025

How to tell A. echinacea from A. ovina pls? (Margaret Ning)

lbradley wrote:

8 May 2025

Here is what ChatGPT says:

To distinguish Acaena echinacea from Acaena ovina, you can look at several key morphological features, particularly the leaves, burrs (fruit), and growth habit:

1. Leaves
•Acaena echinacea: Leaves are typically broader, with more prominent toothed (serrated) leaflets. They can have a more robust, lush appearance.
•Acaena ovina: Leaves are smaller and narrower, often more finely divided and greyish or woolly (which reflects its adaptation to drier, more open habitats like tussock grasslands).

2. Burrs (Fruits)
•Acaena echinacea: Burrs have long, hooked spines which are more conspicuous and help with animal dispersal.
•Acaena ovina: Burrs tend to be smaller and less spiny; they are still barbed but less robust than those of A. echinacea.

3. Habit and Habitat
•Acaena echinacea: Usually found in moister, lower-altitude areas, often in open grasslands or disturbed areas. It can form dense mats.
•Acaena ovina: Found more often in high country, dry or exposed areas, particularly in tussock grasslands.

4. Color and Texture
•Acaena ovina may have a more grey-green or bluish foliage due to fine hairs, while A. echinacea is usually brighter green and glossier.

I think mine is Acaena echinata

Tapirlord wrote:

8 May 2025

Hey everyone,

I believe the key uses the presence or absence of hooked spines on the burrs to seperate these two although of course that’s only so useful. When plants are exclusively in leaf I find the most accurate detail in the presence of hairs on the leaf undersurface, in A.ovina they are densely pilose whilst in A.echinata they are restricted to the midrib and leaf edge.

Generally speaking A.echinata is somewhat smaller than A.ovina which also has a more erect form. I don’t find any profound differences between habitat preference; both occur in grassland, box gum woodland etc.

Another good tip is that A.echinata is clonal, so will often form little groups of small rosettes, whilst A.ovina is not - though that’s Dr Meredith Cosgrove’s input not mine!!

Hope that helps!

Please Login or Register to comment.

Location information

Coordinates 149.146347 -35.207467
Altitude 602.7m
Maps Budjan Galindji (Franklin Grassland) Reserve
Places Harrison, ACT

Sighting information

At least 1 Abundance
7 May 2025 09:53 AM Recorded on
lbradley Recorded by
Collections
lbradley NatureMapr Canberra & Southern Tablelands Other Wildflowers & Herbs Plants

Species information

Acaena echinata Scientific name
Sheeps Burr Common name
Not Sensitive
Local native
Non-invasive or negligible
Up to 1157.2m Recorded at altitude
Machine learning
In flower

Record quality

Images or audio
More than one media file
Verified by an expert moderator
Nearby sighting(s) of same species
GPS evidence of location
Description
Additional attributes

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Queensland

Northern Territory

Western Australia

South Australia

Victoria

Tasmania