The species
Scorpiurus muricatus, the caterpillar-plant or prickly scorpion's-tail, is an annual leguminous plant native to southern Europe and Greater Syria with tiny pea-like flowers and simple leaves uncharacteristic of a legume. Its contorted, pubescent pods give rise to its common name "prickly caterpillar". Extracts of the species have been found to have allelopathic effects on microbes of the Fusarium genus due to the high concentration of phytoalexins in the plants' tissues.
