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Tribulus terrestris

File:Tribulus_terrestris_(Family_Zygophyllaceae).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Tribulus terrestris

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Also known as devil's thorn, goathead, goat's head, goat head, puncturevine, tackweed, Mexican sandbur, Texas sandbur

species of plant

OverviewAI-generated

*Tribulus terrestris*, commonly known as puncturevine or Devil's thorn, is a species of annual, herbaceous plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. Classified within the order Zygophyllales and class Magnoliopsida, this taxon was described by L. The plant produces yellow flowers and fruits of the nucule type. Its scientific name is derived from the words for caltrop and head.

The species has a wide distribution, with native records in locations including Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Assam, Austria, Baleares, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, and Bulgaria. It is also documented in Beijing, China, the Caatinga, and Shanghai. In Mexico, specimen records are held by institutions such as FC-UNAM, ENCB-IPN, CIBNOR, INECOL, and UAZ.

*Tribulus terrestris* is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, a status assigned in 2020. The plant reaches a height of 15–30 cm. It has various uses, including as a medicinal plant, veterinary drug, fodder, and insecticide.

Synthesized by Vinony from 48 facts across 9 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, iNaturalist, Gbif Occ, IUCN Red List, Encyclopedia of Life, Plants of the World, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Least Concern

puncture vine

Tribulus terrestris

SPECIES

  1. KingdomPlantae
  2. PhylumTracheophyta
  3. ClassMagnoliopsida
  4. OrderZygophyllales
  5. FamilyZygophyllaceae
Native toAfghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Angola, Assam, Austria, Baleares, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, Bulgaria
Observations22,757
Observations recorded49,176

Height: 15-30 cm.

via GBIF · IUCN · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records
8,115
With media
6,176
Family
Zygophyllaceae
Collections
FC-UNAM, ENCB-IPN, CIBNOR, INECOL, UAZ, FZ-UACH
Recorded in
Mexico
iDigBio →

~11 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Tribulus terrestris is an annual plant in the caltrop family (Zygophyllaceae) widely distributed around the world. It is adapted to thrive in dry climate locations in which few other plants can survive, and is a highly invasive species.

Native to warm temperate and tropical regions in southern Eurasia and Africa, it has been unintentionally introduced to North America and Australia. T. terrestris is widely known as a noxious weed because of its small woody fruit – the bur – having long sharp and strong spines which easily penetrate surfaces, such as bare feet or thin shoes of crop workers and other pedestrians, the rubber of bicycle tires, and the mouths and skin of grazing animals.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tribulus terrestris” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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