Tribulus terrestris

Caltrop, Cat-head at Higgins, ACT

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Identification history

Tribulus terrestris	6 Apr 2018	BettyDonWood
Tribulus terrestris	6 Apr 2018	Mike
Rumex hypogaeus	6 Apr 2018	AlisonMilton

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User's notes

The whole footpath (nature strip) is covered in them. I feel like going back with a weeding fork and digging them all out. Found the thorns stuck in the bottom of my thongs.

4 comments

Mike wrote:

7 Apr 2018

This has compound (pinnate) leaves. The fruit is even spikier than Emex australis and fatal to bike tyres.

BettyDonWood wrote:

7 Apr 2018

Emex has shovel shaped leaves and a woody burr with three spines, and was last reported in Canberra in 1982. Tribulus terrestris has leaves with many leaflets. The seedcase is relatively flat and breaks up into five sections, each with two spines. There are two other sightings on CNM.

BettyDonWood wrote:

7 Apr 2018

About bike tyres. My daughter was at Roseworthy College in rural SA where the main burr was Three Cornered Jacks. The only way she could use a bike at all was one with solid tyres. Inner tubes on ordinary tyres got shredded in no time.

AlisonMilton wrote:

7 Apr 2018

Thanks Betty. I was basing this on your recent reported sighting in Belconnen.

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