Harpagonella is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family. They are known as the grappling-hooks, because of the appearance and function of their fruits. The strange fruits are two small nutlets enclosed in a burlike calyx, which is armed with numerous spines covered in minute, hooked barbs. These diminutive, annual plants are found in sandy, clayey, and gravelly soils, and have small white flowers. This genus is native to North America, and is found in southern California, southern Arizona, northern Sonora, and the Baja California peninsula.
From Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Is it poisonous?
We have no record of Palmer's grapplinghook being toxic, poisonous or venomous. That is not proof that it is safe. Never eat, touch or handle a wild plant, mushroom or animal on the strength of an identification; ask someone qualified.
Easily confused with
- Harpagonella arizonica
- Pectocarya pusilla
- Pectocarya linearis
- Pectocarya recurvata
- Pectocarya peninsularis
Classification
- Kingdom
- Plantae
- Phylum
- Tracheophyta
- Class
- Magnoliopsida
- Order
- Boraginales
- Family
- Boraginaceae
- Genus
- Harpagonella
- Species
- Harpagonella palmeri
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