Devil's claw

Images

Click on image to view full size

Devil's claw flower

Devil's claw fruit

Devil's claw leaves

Devil's claw fruit

Devil's claw dried capsule

Devil's claw

Devil's claw flower

Devil's claw seeds

Morphology

Stem

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.

Inflorescence

Racemes, 3 to 12 inches long, 4-28-flowered, terminal.

Flower

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.

Fruit

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.

Ecology

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.

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans used the dried pods to make a black dye, and pioneers sometimes pickled the immature fruit.

Additional Notes