1. Scorpiurus muricatus L. (incl. S. subvillosus L., S. sulcatus L.) (Medit., Macaronesia, W-As., NE-Afr.) – A rare and ephemeral alien. Formerly recorded as a wool alien in the valley of river Vesdre near Verviers, at least between 1901 and 1958. All other records are obviously related with birdseed and grain waste. Recorded in 1960 in Turnhout on a canal bank, in 1973 in a bird house in Ohain, in 1983 as a garden weed in Mechelen and in 1989 and 1990 from discarded birdseed waste in a garden in Slins (Lambinon & Dieu 1990). In 1992 also found near a grain mill in the port of Zeebrugge (Verloove & Vandenberghe 1993). Also sometimes seen as an introduction in containers with imported olive trees in plant nurseries.
Scorpiurus muricatus is now considered to be a very variable species and includes several minor species. At least three subspecies have been recorded in Belgium (Lambinon & Dieu 1990). Wool aliens from the Vesdre valley all belonged with subsp. sulcatus (L.) Thell. (syn.: var. sulcatus (L.) Lam., Scorpiurus sulcatus). More recent records are mostly ascribable to subsp. muricatus and subsp. subvillosus (L.) Thell. (syn.: var. subvillosus (L.) Lam., Scorpiurus subvillosus). Infraspecific taxa can be identified with keys provided by Van Ooststroom & Reichgelt (1964), Domínguez & Galiano (1974b) and Talavera & Domínguez (2000) but there seems to be a considerable overlap between these taxa.
References
Clement E.J. (1977) Adventive News 8. BSBI News 16: 14-19.
Domínguez E. & Galiano E.F. (1974b) Revisión del género Scorpiurus L. 2. Parte sistematica. Lagascalia 4: 259-280.
Lambinon J. & Dieu J.-M. (1990) A propos de quelques adventices d’origine méditerranéenne observées à Slins (province de Liège, Belgique). Nat. Mosana 43(1): 1-5.
Talavera S. & Domínguez E. (2000) Scorpiurus. In: Talavera S. & al. (eds.), Flora Iberica, vol. 7(II). Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid: 935-942.
Van Ooststroom S.J. & Reichgelt Th.J. (1964) De in Nederland adventief gevonden vormen van Scorpiurus muricatus. Gorteria 1(4): 37-39.
Verloove F. & Vandenberghe C. (1993) Nieuwe en interessante graanadventieven voor de Noordvlaamse en Noordfranse flora, hoofdzakelijk in 1992. Dumortiera 53-54: 35-57.
Wilson O. (1979) Strange alien at Malvern Wells. Worcestershire Nat. Club Newsl. 3(11): 32-33.