Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Yellow Devils Claw

Proboscidea lutea

Description:

Yellow Devil's Claw (syn. Ibicella lutea) is an annual species from the southern USA. It is considered a pre-carnivorous plant which passively catches small insects with sticky glue on stems and leaves. It has showy orange-yellow flowers, followed by fruits containing woody seed capsules with a recurved pointed tip. Sow in mid spring in pots and keep pots outside in a protected and sunny spot. Seeds of this species are slow in germination and may take several months. A sharp drop from daytime temperature (some 25°C) to nightime temperature (some 10°C) will significantly shorten the germination process. Transplant in early summer to the final spot. For any humus rich, well drained soil in full sun. VII-IX. http://www.rareplants.de/shop/product.as...

Notes:

http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_... http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5720.ht...

1 Species ID Suggestions

AmberLundeen
AmberLundeen 12 years ago
Devil’s claw
Proboscidea lutea Calflora: Proboscidea lutea


Sign in to suggest organism ID

24 Comments

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 3 years ago

pcpower, some of the flora and fauna is introduced in a country. Sometimes accidently and sometimes intentionally .California has a Mediterranean climate and we do have quite a few species from that area .Dispersal of seeds could be another factor via wind, birds ,animals ,water etc.

pcpower99
pcpower99 3 years ago

I live in Tigre, near Buenos Aires city and found one of these in my backyard. I can´t explain how this specimen traveled so far. pcpower99 at hotmail

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

@ Craig , I will borrow your words" vicious seed dispersal mechanism "and add it as a tag to my spotting. Thanks so much.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

I have saved the seed pod and seeds if any one is interested. In the wild,this plant probably serves the same purpose as a pitcher plant since it is pre carnivorous. Some scientist have labeled it as precarnivorous ,but there is an ongoing debate on that!

craigwilliams
craigwilliams 12 years ago

Wow! I've seen the seed pods of this before (such a vicious seed dispersal mechanism, I certainly wouldn't want to be a passing animal!) but never knew which plant they came from. Thanks Emma!

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

Thanks! I think it is . Thanks tp Amber for identifying it!!

p.young713
p.young713 12 years ago

I saw the seed pods a very interesting plant,

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

@Scott, Picture number 3 and 4 are the fruit pod. After the fruit pod dries up it exposes the clawed seed pod which hooks on to passing animals for dispersal.
picture number 4 shows the clawed seed pod. Picture number 5 shows the skull shaped seeds which squeezed out of the seed pod.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

I wass finally able to see the "Devils Claw." these are very well hidden under the foliage. Due to Fall all the leaves have fallen off.
The plants produce long, hooked seed pods. The hooks catch on the feet of animals, and as the animals walk, the pods are ground or crushed open, dispersing the seeds.

ScottRasmussen
ScottRasmussen 12 years ago

Glad you got an ID. It's a very interesting plant!

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

i am really interested in getting a picture of its fruit ,which is in the shape of a claw.

AmberLundeen
AmberLundeen 12 years ago

No problem! :)

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

@ Jean and @ Scott and pyoung we finally have an Id ,thnx to Amber.
"Proboscidea lutea, a dicot, is an annual herb that is not native to California; it was introduced from elsewhere and naturalized in the wild."

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

@ amber Thnx so much!! Your Id skills are out of the ordinary!!

AmberLundeen
AmberLundeen 12 years ago

Here's a link with better photos of my ID suggestion

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/im...

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

@ scott ,this seems to be wild.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

@ scott. i found this in Heather Farms nature reserve,They have a lot of Bee activity.

ScottRasmussen
ScottRasmussen 12 years ago

Where did you find this? Was it in an area where it seemed like it was a wild plant or is it a cultivated plant? It's impressive, whatever it is.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

does not look like a Phlomis sp either.

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

@ Jean ,this calls for further research! Will keep you updated. Thnx!

JeanC.Fisher
JeanC.Fisher 12 years ago

Yah... But take a look at the flowers on your Cucurbita M. and, not only what they look like but how they are growing from the stem of the plant... Squash flowers are solitary -- one flower to one stem. These flowers are actually in what a botanist would call a "whorl" -- but, nevertheless, several flowers to the one stem. If you think of each of those flowers bearing a squash-like "fruit"... It would never work! That one stem couldn't hold up the dozen or so fruit that would be borne by each of those flowers on that "whorl". I can't exactly tell from the photo but it looks to me as though the flowers are of the family "Scrophulariaceae" (the snapdragon family). They seem very much reminiscent of "mimulus" (or "monkey-tongue") which is a member of that family...

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 12 years ago

@ Jean,how about Cucurbita Maxima?
http://www.annadana.com/actu/new_news.cg...

JeanC.Fisher
JeanC.Fisher 12 years ago

Doesn't really have "squash-type" flowers, P.Y. -- what variety are you saying it is?

p.young713
p.young713 12 years ago

Very beautiful plant!!

HemaShah
Spotted by
HemaShah

California, USA

Spotted on Jun 11, 2011
Submitted on Jun 11, 2011

Related Spottings

Desert unicorn plan Devil's Claws Devils horn Devil's Claw

Nearby Spottings

Red Winged Black Bird Hybrid Musk Rose Floating primrose Green Heron
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team