Scorpiurus muricatusL.

prickly scorpion's-tail

WFO wfo-0000205858 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Scorpiurus muricatus, photographed by Alessia Guggisberg
fig. a Alessia Guggisberg, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-25 / obs. 200573451
Scorpiurus muricatus, photographed by Tim Johnson
fig. b Tim Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197724921
Scorpiurus muricatus, photographed by Tim Johnson
fig. c Tim Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197536732
Scorpiurus muricatus, photographed by Tim Johnson
fig. d Tim Johnson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197550767
Scorpiurus muricatus, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. e Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198317557
Scorpiurus muricatus, photographed by J Mark Earlam
fig. f J Mark Earlam, CC0 1.0 / obs. 195639478
Scorpiurus muricatus, photographed by Santiago Martín-Bravo
fig. g Santiago Martín-Bravo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194832432
Scorpiurus muricatus, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. h Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 189696678

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 35 botanical countries

Regions where Scorpiurus muricatus is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Tunisia, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Gulf States, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Baleares, Bulgaria, Corse, France, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Krym, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe AlgeriaEgyptEritreaEthiopiaLibyaMoroccoTunisiaCyprusEast Aegean Is.Gulf StatesIranIraqLebanon-SyriaPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaBulgariaCorseFranceGreeceItalyKritiKrymNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalSiciliaSpainTürkiye-in-Europe Canary Is.MadeiraBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Scorpiurus muricatus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Baleares BAL
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
France FRA
Greece GRC
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Gulf States GST
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Egypt EGY
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 53 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Scorpioides elegans Bubani
  • Scorpioides muricata (L.) Medik.
  • Scorpioides sulcata (L.) Medik.
  • Scorpiurus acutifolius Viv.
  • Scorpiurus echinata Lam.
  • Scorpiurus echinatus Lam.
  • Scorpiurus echinatus prol. subvillosus (L.) Samp.
  • Scorpiurus echinatus var. laevigatus Samp.
  • Scorpiurus echinatus var. muricatus (L.) Samp.
  • Scorpiurus echinatus var. subvillosus Brot.
  • Scorpiurus echinatus var. subvillosus (L.) Brot.
  • Scorpiurus echinatus var. sulcatus (L.) Brot.
  • Scorpiurus laevigata Sm.
  • Scorpiurus laevigatus Sm.
  • Scorpiurus laevigatus var. glaberrimus Maire
  • Scorpiurus laevigatus var. papillosus Maire
  • Scorpiurus margaritae P.Palau
  • Scorpiurus minimus Losinsk.
  • Scorpiurus muricatus subsp. laevigatus (Sm.) Thell.
  • Scorpiurus muricatus subsp. subvillosus (L.) Thell.
  • Scorpiurus muricatus subsp. sulcatus (L.) Thell.
  • Scorpiurus muricatus subvar. eriocarpus (Godr.) Thell.
  • Scorpiurus muricatus var. acutifolius (Viv.) Kuntze
  • Scorpiurus muricatus var. breviaculeatus (Batt.) Thell.

and 29 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.