Summary ²

Scorpiurus muricatus, the caterpillar-plant or prickly scorpion's-tail, is an annual leguminous plant native to southern Europe and Greater Syria with tiny pea-like flowers and simple leaves uncharacteristic of a legume. Its contorted, pubescent pods give rise to its common name "prickly caterpillar". Extracts of the species have been found to have allelopathic effects on microbes of the Fusarium genus due to the high concentration of phytoalexins in the plants'

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Drepanostoma, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Drepanostoma
2. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpiurus_muricatus

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• African Plants - a photo guide
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Flora Digital de Portugal
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• NBN Atlas
• New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• World Flora Online

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