DEVIL'S CLAW
File Size: 80 KB
 
Proboscidea louisianica   (P. Mill. ) Thell.
Mitchell County, Kansas
Annual
Height: 6-36 inches
Family: Pedaliaceae - Unicorn-plant Family
Flowering Period:   July, August, September,October
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.

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
Devil's claw fruit
102 KB
Pawnee County, Kansas
Devil's claw fruit
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Pawnee County, Kansas
Devil's claw dried capsule
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Pawnee County, Kansas
Devil's claw seeds
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Pawnee County, Kansas