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Proboscidea louisianica
Also called Purple Flowered Devil's Claw, Unicorn Plant, Elephant Tusks, Goat's Head, Purple Flower Devil's Claw, Louisiana Unicorn Plant, Aphid Trap
Ram's horn is an annual herb with sprawling, oily, strong-smelling stems and purple-spotted flowers, grown mainly for its unusual horn-shaped seed pods. It thrives in hot, sunny, well-drained conditions and is best started from seed once the soil has warmed.
Proboscidea louisianica is a species of flowering plant in the family Martyniaceae. Its true native range is unclear, but probably includes parts of the southwestern United States and Mexico in North America. It occurs in other areas, including other regions in North America, Europe, Australia, and South Africa, as an introduced species. It is the most widely distributed species in its family. Common names it shares with other Proboscidea species include devil's claw and unicorn-plant. Names more specific to the species include common devil's claw, ram's horn, aphid trap, Louisiana unicorn-plant, purple-flowered devil's-claw, goat's head, elephant tusks, and martinoe (or martina).
The plant rarely self-pollinates. It is pollinated by bees; species noted on the plant include Melissodes communis, Svastra obliqua, Anthophora occidentalis, Augochlorella striata, Bombus fervidus, Bombus pensylvanicus, and Lasioglossum species.
The young green fruits are edible and can be pickled. The seeds were used as food by Native Americans.
Proboscidea altheifolia · Doubleclaw · Sanddune unicorn-plant · New Mexico unicorn-plant · Mule grab
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Proboscidea louisianica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
