Proboscidea louisianica subsp. louisianica

Family: Martyniaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Devil's claw is a naturalized annual found in the North Coast Ranges, North Coast Inner, Central Valley, South Coast Ranges, Southern California, and Peninsular Ranges in open, disturbed areas at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white flowers with a purple tinge and darker markings. Growing with a taproot and stems reaching up to 20 centimeters tall, it develops broad, triangular to round leaves 5 to 20 centimeters wide. Its leaf blades are entire to shallowly indented, with an inflorescence that exceeds the leaf height and contains 20 to 40 flowers. The fruit develops as a narrowly ovate body 1.5 to 3 centimeters wide, lacking spines.

Habitat: Uncommon. Open, disturbed areas

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: NCoRO, NCoRI, GV, SCoRO, SCo, PR, cultivated elsewhere

California counties: Kern, Lake, San Joaquin, Sonoma, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Yolo, Glenn, San Diego, Butte, Sutter, Tulare, Colusa, Solano, Mendocino, Stanislaus, Shasta, Riverside, Napa, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Bernardino, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Alameda

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