| Author | Thunberg | |
| Distribution | Mountains and Piedmont, so far as is known.
Native to southestern Asia; in N.A. scattered records. | |
| Abundance | Rare but increasing. Can be a noxious weed; persons should attempt to remove plants if possible, as the seeds easily drop once mature. | |
| Habitat | The Alleghany County specimen is from a disturbed roadside ditch. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting September-November. | |
| Identification | This is a very large and robust sandspur, more closely related to C. americanus than to our other species. But unlike that species, C. purpurascens has long, dark brown bristles. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | A synonym is Pennisetum alopecuroides (L.) Sprengel.
Sandspurs are notorious for their extremely strong and sharp spines which catch on clothing, fur, and skin alike. The spines actually are flattened and extremely hardened bristles borne at the base of each spikelet. There also is a second set of bristles just outside the spines and not hardened. Care must be taken with a dissecting scope to reach accurate identification. NOTE: Some sites use "sandspur" and some use "sandbur" for the group common name for Cenchrus. In the Carolinas, at least, "sandspur" is much the more often used -- as do Weakley (2018) and RAB (1968) -- and thus the website editors are using that group common name. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | | |
| State Rank | SE * | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
