Kallstroemia maxima (L.) Hook. & Arn.

Big caltrop (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Zygophyllales > Zygophyllaceae > Kallstroemia

Characteristics

Herbs, annual. Stems prostrate to decumbent, to 1(–1.5) m, sericeous and sparingly hirsute with white or yellow antrorse hairs, becoming glabrate. Leaves obovate in outline, 1–6 × 1.5–5 cm; stipules 3–5 × 1 mm; leaflets 6–8(–12), broadly oblong to elliptic, 5–29 × 3–14 mm, terminal pair usually largest, surfaces appressed-hirsute to glabrate, veins and margins sericeous. Pedicels 10–50 mm in flower and fruit, at first shorter than subtending leaves, equaling them or longer in fruit, little thickened distally, straight or curved. Flowers 7–25 mm diam.; sepals persistent, ovate, 3–8 × 2–3 mm, as long as or little shorter than petals, in flower as long as style, in fruit clasping but not entirely covering mature fruit body and shorter than beak, only scarious margins becoming involute, hirsute; petals marcescent, usually ± 2-colored, basally usually white to yellow-green or green, rarely red (often brighter than distal portion), fading white to bright orange, distally white to yellow or pale orange, obovate, 5–12 × 4–10 mm; stamens as long as style; anthers yellow or red-orange, usually ovoid, rarely linear, 1 mm; ovary ovoid, 1 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes strigose at base, rarely to base of style; style cylindric but slightly conic basally, 2–3 mm, 2–3 times as long as ovary, glabrous; stigma terminal. Schizocarps ovoid, 5–6 mm diam., usually glabrous, sometimes strigose at base or rarely to base of beak; beak cylindric, 3–7 mm, usually as long as fruit body, base widely conic, glabrous; mericarps 3–4 × 1 mm, abaxially tuberculate, cross-ridged, or slightly keeled, tubercles if present all rounded, less than 1 mm, sides pitted, adaxial edge angled.
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Annual herb; stems prostrate to decumbent, to 1 m long, sericeous and spar-ingly hirsute with apically-directed white trichomes. Leaves obovate, 1-5.5 cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide; leaflets 3-4 pairs, broadly oblong to elliptical, appressed-hirsute to glabrate, margins and veins sericeous, 5-18 mm long, 3-11 mm wide, terminal pair usually largest. Flowers ca 1 cm in diam; peduncles to 28 mm long; sepals ovate, 4-5 mm long, 2 mm wide, as long as or little shorter than petals, hirsute with appressed to spreading trichomes, in flower ca as long as style, in fruit clasping but not entirely covering mature mericarps and shorter than beak, only scarious margins becoming involute, persistent; petals yellow, fading orange, obovate, 4-6 mm long, to 6 mm wide, marcescent;-ovary ovoid, ca 1 mm in diam, usually glabrous but occasionally strigose basally, the style 2 mm long, cylindrical, base slightly conical, the stigma capitate, ca 1 mm long, obscurely 1 0-lobed, papillose. Fruit ovoid, 4-5 mm in diam, usually glabrous but occasionally strigose basally, the beak 3-6 mm long, glabrous, cylindrical, the base widely conical; mericarps 4 mm high, 1.5 mm wide, abaxially tubercled, cross-ridged, and slightly keeled, sides pitted, adaxial edge angled.
Life form annual
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.1
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Moist thickets or plains, often in sand or a weed in cultivated ground, mainly near sea level, but also extending to elevations of 1,500 metres.
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It is a tropical plant.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

The leaves are used as a potherb.
Uses medicinal potherb
Edible leaves
Therapeutic use Dermatosis (unspecified), Tumor (unspecified), Urticaria (unspecified), Paralysis (unspecified), Tetanus (unspecified), Spasm (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) 14 - 21
Germination temperacture (C°) 15 - 18
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Kallstroemia maxima habit picture by Trap Hers (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Kallstroemia maxima leaf picture by Victoria Chaves Ramirez (cc-by-sa)
Kallstroemia maxima leaf picture by Victoria Chaves Ramirez (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Kallstroemia maxima flower picture by Victoria Chaves Ramirez (cc-by-sa)
Kallstroemia maxima flower picture by Jaleel smith (cc-by-sa)
Kallstroemia maxima flower picture by Trap Hers (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Kallstroemia maxima world distribution map, present in Anguilla, Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Guatemala, French Guiana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Martinique, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Paraguay, El Salvador, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77076481-1
WFO ID wfo-0000507501
COL ID 6NK3Z
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 629988
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Tribulus decolor Tribulus maximus Kallstroemia canescens Tribulus trijugatus Tribulus tuberculatus Tribulus dimidiatus Kallstroemia maxima