Kallstroemia grandiflora

Arizona caltrop

Family: Zygophyllaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Arizona caltrop is a naturalized annual found in southern desert regions near Desert Center and Jacumba in sandy roadsides at elevations of 300 to 900 meters. Flowering from September to October, this plant produces large yellow to orange flowers with darker bases, measuring 15 to 30 millimeters across. Growing with decumbent to ascending stems less than one meter tall, it is densely covered in silky hairs and sharp bristles. Its leaves feature 8 to 16 leaflets with small stipules 4 to 10 millimeters long. The fruit is a small ovoid structure 2 to 3 millimeters wide, with a style three times the length of the fruit body.

Habitat: Uncommon. Sandy roadsides

Bloom period: Sep-Oct

Elevation: 300-900 m

Bioregions: DSon (near Desert Center, Riverside Co. Jacumba, San Diego Co.) expected but evidently not yet found elsewhere

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.