About Harpagonella palmeri A.Gray
Harpagonella is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, commonly called grappling-hooks, a name that refers to the appearance and function of their fruits. Their unusual fruits consist of two small nutlets enclosed in a bur-like calyx, which is covered in many spines that each bear tiny hooked barbs. These are small annual plants that produce small white flowers, and they grow in sandy, clayey, and gravelly soils. The genus is native to North America, where it occurs in southern California, southern Arizona, northern Sonora, and the Baja California peninsula. It is considered one of the most morphologically unique genera in the subtribe Amsinckiinae, a distinction that comes mostly from its unusual fruit structure. The genus was previously thought to contain only one species, but plants native to Arizona have now been recognized as a separate species.
