ABSTRACT
The hooked pods of devil’s claw species seem obviously adapted to attaching to the hooves and legs of large grazing animals. When hooked to the hooves of animals, the pods are crushed open as the animals travel, dispersing the seeds. It has been suggested that the fruits are designed to hobble and kill mammals, so that their decaying corpses will act as fertilizer for the plants that grow from the seeds. The stems and foliage are covered with sticky hairs, which secrete a gummy, gelatinous liquid that produces an odor which has been compared to moldy sneakers, rotten gym socks, cat urine, and melted rubber. The edible oilseed possibility is much more significant than the potential development of the plant as a novelty vegetable. There have been indications that devil’s claw could become a dryland oilseed, and as the availability of irrigation water becomes more acute in the future, the crop will become increasingly attractive.
