Proboscidea is a genus of flowering plant in the family Martyniaceae, some of whose species are known as devil's claw, devil's horn, ram's horn, or unicorn plant. 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. The name devil's claw is shared with the South African plant Harpagophytum procumbens.
Solanum xanti, known commonly as chaparral nightshade, purple nightshade, and San Diego nightshade, is a member of the genus Solanum. It is native to the Western United States in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Oregon, and to northwest Mexico in Baja California.
Chenopodium fremontii is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common name Frémont's goosefoot. Both the species' specific epithet, and the common name derive from the 19th century western pioneer John C. Frémont.
Lessingia lemmonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Lemmon's lessingia. It is native to the western United States around the intersection of Nevada, Arizona, and California, where it grows in desert and other habitat with sandy soils. This is an annual herb producing gray-green woolly stems in a low clump just a few centimeters high to a relatively erect 40 centimeters tall. The leaves are narrow and small, under 2 centimeters long, with much larger leaves appearing around the base of the young plant and withering away early. The flower heads appear singly or in open arrays. Each head has a bell- to bullet-shaped involucre lined with hairy to woolly phyllaries. The head is discoid, containing no ray florets but many funnel-shaped yellow disc florets with long lobes. The florets often have white markings in the throats. The fruit is an achene with a whitish or brownish pappus of bristles.
Lycium cooperi is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family known by the common name peach thorn. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in a variety of desert and mountain habitat types. This is a bushy, erect shrub approaching a maximum height of 4 metres (13 ft) with many rigid, thorny branches. The branches are lined thickly with fleshy oval or widely lance-shaped leaves each 1–3 centimetres (0.39–1.18 in) long and coated with glandular hairs. The inflorescence is a small cluster of tubular flowers roughly 1–2 centimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long including the calyx of fleshy sepals at the base. The flower is white or greenish with lavender or green veining. The corolla is a tube opening into a face with four or five lobes. The fruit is a yellow or orange berry under a centimeter wide containing many seeds.
Arida arizonica,, is an annual plant in the, known by the common names arid tansyaster, desert tansyaster, and Silver Lake daisy. It is native to the very arid deserts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, and usually looks straggly and not very attractive. But in years with very heavy rainfall, it fills out and becomes rounded and bush like.
Xanthisma gracile is a species of annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names slender goldenweed and annual bristleweed.
Mentzelia albicaulis is a species of flowering plants in the family Loasaceae known by the common names whitestem blazingstar, white-stemmed stickleaf, and small flowered blazing star. It is native to much of western North America, where it grows in mountain, desert, and plateau habitat.
Mentzelia polita is a species of flowering plant in the family Loasaceae known by the common name polished blazingstar. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in desert mountains, washes, and other dry habitat.
Proboscidea parviflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Martyniaceae known by the common names doubleclaw and red devil's-claw. It is native to the desert southwest of the United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in sandy, dry, and disturbed habitat and blooms during the hot summer. This is an annual herb growing from a taproot and producing sprawling, spreading stems. The leaves have rounded, oval, or roughly triangular blades up to 15 centimetres (6 in) long which have smooth edges or faint lobes or teeth. The inflorescence is an array of several showy bell-shaped flowers with five lobes flaring several centimeters wide. The flower is white to pink or purple, sometimes with mottling or lines of spots in the throat, and often a purple blotch on the upper lip. A yellow nectar guide extends along the lower lip. The fruit is a large seed pod many centimeters long, a cylindrical body tapering into a very long, thin, curving tail. As the fruit dries the tail cracks open and splits into two hooked, claw-like halves. The young fruits and seeds were used for food and the dark-colored hardened dry fruits were used in basketry by local Native Americans.
Raillardella argentea is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name silky raillardella. It is native to the Sierra Nevada and nearby mountain ranges of California, its distribution extending east into Nevada and north along the Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains into Oregon. It grows in many types of dry, open mountain habitat. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing in a clump of rosetted basal leaves. The leaves are lance-shaped, up to 8 centimeters long, and coated in silky hairs. The plant produces an inflorescence up to about 15 centimeters tall consisting of a solitary flower head which is cylindrical to somewhat bell-shaped. The head is enclosed in the fused outer scales of the flowers, which look similar to the phyllaries of many other species' flower heads. The head contains many yellow disc florets up to a centimeter long each, and no ray florets. The fruit is a long, narrow achene which may be 2 centimeters in length including its plumelike pappus.
Ribes velutinum is a species of currant known by the common name desert gooseberry.
Romanzoffia sitchensis is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Sitka mistmaiden. It is native to western North America from Alaska through British Columbia and Alberta to far northern California and Montana.
Rorippa columbiae is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Columbian yellowcress and Columbia yellow cress.
Sphaeromeria cana is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name gray chickensage. It is native to the western United States, where it is known from the Sierra Nevada, the adjacent desert ranges of eastern California and Nevada, and Steens Mountain of Oregon. It grows in dry, rocky mountain habitat, such as cracks and crevices, including the talus above the tree line. This is an aromatic subshrub with numerous erect branches growing up to 30 to 60 centimeters tall. It is gray-green in color and coated with woolly fibers. The leaves are linear or lance-shaped, the lower ones divided into lobes. The inflorescence is generally a cluster of flower heads lined with woolly phyllaries and containing yellow disc florets. There are no ray florets. The fruit is a ribbed achene about 2 millimeters long.
Nestotus stenophyllus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name narrowleaf mock goldenweed. It was previously known as Stenotus stenophyllus. It is native to the western United States, especially the inland Pacific Northwest and northern Great Basin, where it grows in sagebrush habitat usually in rocky soil.
Symphoricarpos longiflorus is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common names desert snowberry and fragrant snowberry. It is native to the western United States from the Great Basin to western Texas, as well as northwestern Mexico.
Thamnosma montana, the turpentine broom, or Mojave desert-rue, is a shrub in the citrus family Rutaceae. It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Except immediately after heavy rains, its straight stems usually lack leaves, giving it a broom-like appearance. The Latin specific epithet montana refers to mountains or coming from mountains.
Proboscidea sabulosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Martyniaceae known by the common names sanddune unicorn-plant, dune unicorn plant and dune devil's claw. It is native to Chihuahua in Mexico and New Mexico and Texas in the United States.
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, and elephant tusks.
