David,

My devil's claw drowned in the spring and summer's rain, so there's not a single seed pod to be found in my garden. I'd hoped to have some to share, but I don't have any this year. Maybe some will sprout and grow next year....I don't think I've ever planted them, but I think they 'arrived' in a load of cow manure that a local rancher friend gave me. So, there's a chance that there's some seed in the ground that might sprout next year.

Dawn

Dawn,

Thank you for checking. I appreciate that. I will check on seeds with the link you gave me in the origonal post, back in April. Hopefully someone will see this post and have some pods to share.

David

Daivd,
When I moved here there was several and I treated them like the bindweed and got rid of them. I will keep an eye out for some. As they grow around here. If I'm out at my BIL's I'll look around some. I'm sure I can find some but not sure when. Jay

Are you talking about this one?

Proboscidea louisianica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscidea_(genus)
There's a nice write up on another gardening site by a guy named Dave but GW has blocked my ability to link that site.

Or this one?

Harpagophylum procumbens DC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpagophytum

If it's the second one, does it make a flower? I've been unable to find a picture of it in bloom.

Sounds like an interesting plant to have for the herb garden, especially if it's the first one. I might like some seed too.

Ilene,

We are talking about the plants in the Proboscidea species. There is a native one that grows in many areas, including some parts of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kandsas. (Maybe it grows in every state--I don't know.)

When I was a kid, we'd bring home some of the seed pods every time we went to Spanish Fort, Texas, for a family reunion of my dad's extended family, cemetery cleanup day or the annual Spanish Fort Homecoming, which was literally a family/town reunion for anyone who grew up there. The dried pods look like a giant mosquito and my dad, who grew up during the Great Depression, said they played with the pods when they were kids because they were too poor to have toys.

When we moved here, I was disappointed to find we didn't have any of them growing wild here on our property because Spanish Fort is only a few dozen miles from our property in Love County and they share similar soil and native plants. A couple of years later, I found one growing in my garden. I had added local cow manure to that part of the garden a few months before, so I assumed the seed came in with the cow manure. Usually one or two of these plants sprout on the edge of the corn bed every year, and they did sprout this year, but died in the wet conditions. Generally, they prefer drier soil to wetter soil.

There are some medicinal uses for devil's claw but I just like it for nostalgic reasons. My dad used to hold up a seed pod to an unsuspecting visitor to our home and tell them it was a Spanish Fort mosquito or a Red River mosquito. He always got a kick out of their reaction.

The only commercial seed source I know of is Native Seed/SEARCH and they have several different ones they've collected from the native tribes. All of these seem to have seed pods that differ slightly (but not significantly) from the ones that grow wild here.

I believe the long probiscus-type spines help spread the seeds because when I am working in the garden in the fall, the dried seed pods usually grab hold of my shoe or pants leg and won't let go.

I've linked the Native Seeds/SEARCH page so you can see them. If you are interested in plants grown by the tribal people of the southwest, this site will be of great interest.

Dawn

P.S. The reason you cannot link something from that other website is because it is a competing website. In the years when Spike still owned GW, you could get banned for linking to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Devil's Claw at Native Seed/SEARCH

Oh, no kidding, you could get banned from the site for linking to Dave? I did not know that. Well, I apologize. Hope they're not watching me now. I do much prefer this one for it's people and all the cool stuff I've learned, BUT I could do without the pop-ups and the cookies that get planted in my computer every time I come here. I don't mind the ads but I wish they were less intrusive, not spreading out over your field and then withdrawing just as you click on something, so you end up clicking on the wrong thing. Kinda annoying. So there. Rant over.

I just realized, when looking at the pics of Proboscidea, that I might've had this plant and didn't know it this spring. We had gotten some manure from a local rancher and lots of weed seeds came along for the ride. I found a plant that had leaves that reminded me of a geranium. I thought maybe I had a wild geranium or something. So I transplanted it into a pot to see if it would bloom. Seems like it did, but the flowers were real small. I didn't notice any smell, though one of the reviewers said the flower stinks like armpits..... so maybe I didn't have the plant afterall but just had something that had leaves like it. Hmmmm. Anyway, I pulled it up and threw it away.

So, how big ARE the flowers? Those pods are really something, and kinda scarey. I can see Hubs doing what your dad did. He loves to freak people out.

Ilene, I believe that long before I joined GW in 2005 the two websites were competing for participants and that one chose to become a paid site and this one stayed free for its users. Yes, the ads here can be annoying, but I just ignore them. I am sure iVillage has to have them in order to keep GW free for its users, and I do appreciate that we don't have to pay a membership fee or monthly fee to participate here.

The flowers on my plants are not terribly large....maybe about the size of a key lime. The flowers on the ones that pop up here are sort of a very pale pink with a pale yellow throat and they are slightly tubular, but I understand that on some of the different types the flowers range from pale lilac to almost white to a bit darker pinkish-purplish.

My dad just loved those silly old pods. He worked with a guy who was terrified of any sort of insect or rodent or snake. The guy would literally turn and run if he came across a snake or rodent or large bug, so the guys at work called him "Old Rubberlegs". My dad would take one of those "Red River Mosquitoes" to work and strategically place it to frighten Old Rubberlegs.

On the linked photo, you'll find interesting info and photos, including photos of devil's claws stuck to shoes, buckets of devil's claws, and images of different plants, some of which are in bloom.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Website with Flower Photos and Other Info

Dawn, that's really a wonderful website and thank you for directing me to it. As I look at the leaves of those plants, they do not look at all like the plant that came up in my garden and so it must've been something else. The flowers that it made were tiny, if I'm remembering correctly, and really not much to look at.

Looks like Devil's Claw would be something neat to grow, and it seems to have a lot of medicinal uses, for those who grow herbs for that reason. The flowers are quite attractive, too. And maybe the smell isn't really that bad for folks who are used to herbs. I know when I started growing Cleome, there were people who said the plants were "stinky", but I found the scent to be pleasant. So, what smells like armpits to one person might smell like something entirely different to others.

Ihave 3 acrs and just hand pulled a bunch up out of my pasture. They were overtaking my pasture and hooking on my horses hooves. I could bag a bunch and send you the pods. Email me and you can get the postage paid, ill send them. psycoach37@gmail.com

Jerry