Tribulus is also a derivative Roman era (Latin language) name for the weapon known in English today as the Caltrop

Caltrop

A caltrop is an antipersonnel weapon made up of two or more sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base...

,

name="Alesia-2006"
>Battle of Alesia

Battle of Alesia

The Battle of Alesia or Siege of Alesia took place in September, 52 BC around the Gallic oppidum of Alesia, a major town centre and hill fort of the Mandubii tribe...

 (Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

's conquest of Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

 in 52 BC

52 BC

Year 52 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pompeius and Scipio...

)), Battlefield Detectives program, (2006), rebroadcast: 2008-09-08 on History Channel International (13;00-14:00 hrs EDST); Note: No mention of name caltrop at all, but illustrated and given as battle key to defend roman lines of circumvaliation per recent digs evidence. which bears strong resemblances with the plant today named or puncture vine.

Tribulus is a genus of plants found in many warm regions. The best-known member is T. terrestris

Tribulus terrestris

Tribulus terrestris is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World in southern Europe, southern Asia, throughout Africa, and Australia. It can thrive even in desert climates and poor soil...

 (puncture vine), a widespread weed and also the source of a dietary supplement

Dietary supplement

A dietary supplement, also known as food supplement or nutritional supplement, is a preparation intended to supplement the diet and provide nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, fatty acids, or amino acids, that may be missing or may not be consumed in sufficient quantities in a person's diet...

.

Tribulus species are perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

, but some grow as annuals

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 in colder climates. The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are opposite and compound. The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s are perfect (hermaphroditic) and insect-pollinated, with fivefold symmetry. The ovary is divided into locules that are in turn divided by "false septa" (the latter distinguish Tribulus from other members of its family).

Some species are cultivated as ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s in warm regions. Some, notably T. cistoides, T. longipetalus, T. micrococcus, T. terrestris

Tribulus terrestris

Tribulus terrestris is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World in southern Europe, southern Asia, throughout Africa, and Australia. It can thrive even in desert climates and poor soil...

, and T. zeyheri, are considered weed

Weed

A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...

s.
It is also the national flower of the country UAE.

External links

• Tribulus in BoDD – Botanical Dermatology Database
• Technical description of Zygophyllaceae from The Families of Flowering Plants, L. Watson and M. J. Dallw