The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Harpagonella
Harpagonella is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family. They are known as the grappling-hooks, because of the appearance and function of their fruits. The strange fruits are two small nutlets enclosed in a burlike calyx, which is armed with numerous spines covered in minute, hooked barbs. These diminutive, annual plants are found in sandy, clayey, and gravelly soils, and have small white flowers. This genus is native to North America, and is found in southern California, southern Arizona, northern Sonora, and the Baja California peninsula.
The genus has been regarded as one of the most morphologically distinctive of the Amsinckiinae, largely because of their unusual fruits. The genus was formerly monotypic, but the plants native to Arizona have since been recognized as a distinct species.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Harpagonella by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
