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Proboscidea louisianica

Common name:	Unicorn Plant	Family:	Martyniaceae
Author:	(Mill.)Thell.	Botanical references:	43, 200, 235
Synonyms:	Proboscidea louisiana (Wooton.& Standl.), Martynia louisiana (Miller.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Southern N. America - Indiana to Iowa, Utah, Texas and New Mexico.
Habitat:	River banks and waste places[43]. Naturalized as a weed in Portugal and S.E. Russia[50].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Martynia proboscidea[P] P. jussieui[P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Common Devilsclaw [P], Ram's-horn [B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	proboscidea = like elephant's trunk
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Washington, Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 1m. It is hardy to zone 10 and is frost tender. It is in flower from July to September. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Fruit Oil Root Seed.

Young fruits, harvested whilst still tender enough to be pierced with a fork, can be sliced and added to soups as a thickening agent[85, 183]. They can also be parboiled and eaten as a vegetable or pickled in vinegar[183]. They are sometimes pickled when immature[1, 27, 61]. The fruit is about 4 - 6mm long[200].
Seed - raw or cooked. High in protein[183] and in oil[207].
An edible oil is obtained from the seed[183].
Root[2]. No more details are given.

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Basketry Dye.

A black dye can be obtained from the seedpods[257].
The long pointed seed capsule horns can be used as the black pattern material in coiled basketry[257].

Cultivation details

Requires a well-drained porous soil in a warm sheltered position[200].
A frost-tender species, it can be grown outdoors in Britain as a half-hardy annual.
This species is closely related to P. fragrans[200].
This species has occasionally been cultivated as a food crop[207, 274].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a warm greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out after the last expected frosts[200].

Scent

Plant: Fresh: The whole plant is ill scented[274].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Martyniaceae.

[CHINA] Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[27] Vilmorin. A. The Vegetable Garden. Ten Speed Press ISBN 0-89815-041-8
A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[85] Harrington. H. D. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press 1967 ISBN 0-8623-0343-9
A superb book. Very readable, it gives the results of the authors experiments with native edible plants.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

Proboscidea louisianica

Eddie (wwwallyh@yahoo.com) Sun Mar 9 18:55:11 2003

Link: The "Big Bird" bush an artist's experience with the unicorn plant

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