Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Tribulus terrestris
Common name
Cat-head, Caltrop
Family
Zygophyllaceae
Where found
Grassy areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, and stream banks. Western Slopes, tablelands, and the ACT. Sydney area.
Notes
Introduced annual or perennial herb, prostrate, stems to 1m long. Seed cases spiny. Plant hairy when young. Leaves opposite each other, compound, with 8-16 leaflets each 0.4-1.2 cm long, 1-5 mm wide, sparsely hairy above, hairy below, tips blunt or pointed. Flowers yellow, 6-18 mm in diameter, with 5 petals. Flowers single. Flowers Spring to Autumn. Seed cases with 5 sections, each with 2 very divergent spines 3–8 mm long pointing up, and 2 shorter basal spines 1–4 mm long pointing down.
Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Tribulus~terrestris (accessed 10 February, 2021)
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