Kallstroemia californica
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Kallstroemia californica | ||||||||||||||
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Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
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Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
Kallstroemia californica (S.Wats.) Vail |
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Synonyms | ||||||||||||||
Kallstroemia brachystylis |
Kallstroemia californica is a species of flowering plant in the caltrop family known by the common name California caltrop. It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico. This is a mat-forming annual herb which grows in thick carpetlike masses on sandy substrates. The branching stem has compound leaves which are each made up of several widely-spaced pairs of small oval-shaped green leaflets. It produces individual flowers with five rounded or oval petals and a ring of ten stamens. The fruit is a small body a few millimeters wide of ten conjoined nutlets which split apart.