Plant Name
Scientific Name: Lappula occidentalis
Synonym: Lappula redowskii
Common Names: Flatspine Stickseed, White Stickseed, Western Sticktight
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual, Biennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland
Flower Color: Pale blue, White
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To 2 feet (61 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are tiny, tubular, and have 5 rounded lobes. The flowers are followed by small nutlets with hook-tipped spines. While the small flowers are easy to overlook, the spiny dried nutlets are not, as they will stick to clothing or animal fur. If you walk through a patch of these plants, expect to pick hundreds of prickly nutlets out of your socks. The leaves are green, hairy, alternate, and linear, lanceolate, or spatulate in shape. The stems are hairy and upright.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Lamiales
Family: Boraginaceae – Borage family
Genus: Lappula Moench – stickseed
Species: Lappula occidentalis (S. Watson) Greene – flatspine stickseed
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