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DEVIL'S CLAW
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| File Size: 80 KB |
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Proboscidea louisianica (P. Mill. ) Thell.
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| Mitchell County, Kansas |
| Annual |
| Height: 6-36 inches |
| Family: Pedaliaceae - Unicorn-plant Family |
| Flowering Period: July, August, September,October |
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| Also Called: | | Unicorn plant. | | Stems: | | Erect or occasionally decumbent, thick, much-branched, densely glandular-hairy. | | Leaves: | | Opposite below or occasionally alternate above, simple, on stalks 1 to 10 inches long, heart- to kidney-shaped, 1 to 7 inches long, 1 to 8 inches wide; margins wavy to entire; tips rounded to pointed. | | Inflorescences: | | Racemes, 3 to 12 inches long, 4-28-flowered, terminal. | | Flowers: | | Calyces 5-lobed, lobes unequal, blunt-tipped; corollas funnel-shaped, 5-lobed, 1 to 2 inches long, pinkish white with yellow lines and purple or red spots inside throats; stamens 4 fertile, 1-3 sterile. | | Fruits: | | Capsules, woody, two-valved, 3 to 4 inches long, about 1 inch thick; beaks longer than seed bearing bodies, splitting at maturity into 2 claws; tips curving back; seeds many, narrowly ovate, 1/3 to 1/2 inch long, somewhat flattened, rough, black. | | Habitat: | | Waste ground, roadsides, fields, and overgrown pastures, most abundant in sandy soils. | | Distribution: | | Throughout, more frequent in west 2/3 of Kansas. | | Reproduction: | | Seeds are dispersed when shaken from capsules clinging to the legs, hair, or wool of grazing animals. | | Uses: | | Native Americans used the dried pods to make a black dye, and pioneers sometimes pickled the immature fruit. | | Comments: | | The stem and leaves have an unpleasant odor. The claws can cause damage to the eyes of livestock and lessen the value of wool. |
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| Devil's claw flower |  | | 77 KB | | Mitchell County, Kansas |
| | Devil's claw leaves |  | | 124 KB | | Mitchell County, Kansas |
| | Devil's claw flower |  | | 71 KB | | Mitchell County, Kansas |
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