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Proboscidea louisianica |
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| Synonym(s) |
Martynia louisiana |
| Common name |
ram's horn, unicorn plant, devil's claw |
| Family |
martyniaceae |
| Life cycle |
annual |
| Flowers |
white/yellow |
| Seed ripens | mid-October |
The common names of this plant refer to the interesting, and somewhat ferocious, seed pods - hopefully I'll have an example later this year. So far, I'm just happy to see the speckled, petunia-like flowers. Leaves are velvety. By early July, the plant is a monster, competing even with the squash plants surrounding it. Fruits appear later in summer. In our climate, ripening of the fruits into the trademark seedpods doesn't happen until about the time the frost kills the plants - but we did get viable seed, so I'll give them another go next year.
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This plant used to grow in our garden, but it slipped away... About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Proboscidea louisianica
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Andrea Brackett | Aug 15, 2006 | Hi. Your web page helped me to identify this surprising interloper in my garden. I let it grow because I had never seen this plant before, and I was curious. My plant has tons of fruit on it, and I am wondering if you know how it tastes. Some texts refer to pickling it. Right now, the pods seem too tough to be enjoyable in any form. It has been compared to okra, but I grow tons of okra every year and eat it raw. Thanks for the help! Andrea
I'm growing it for the first time this year, the fruit is just developing. I won't be tasting it - it looks like a solanum family plant (although it isn't); many solanaceae are edible, but some are poisonous. |
| Aug 21, 2006 | A great craft plant - traditionally used by Native Americans for basket weaving. For more info check out http://www.nativeseeds.org/v2/cat.php?catID=20
Very popular in the Southwest. |
| peggygreene | Jun 22, 2019 | Lookin for a source for the proboscidea plant pods for arts and crafts |
- Seed from '05 trade. Baggy 70F (11d) - knife-nicked - 70F (6d) - 75F (30d; 10%G, 27d)
- Seed from '06 garden. Knife-nicked, baggy 75F (10%G, 10w)
Not yet found a good germination procedure.
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