Small bur-parsley

Caucalis platycarpos is a slender erect annual herb of the Apiaceae family standing 10-40 cm tall, with a slim taproot and a stiff, finely ridged, sparsely hairy stem that branches in the upper portion. The leaves are alternate, two- to three-pinnatisect into small narrowly lanceolate, deeply incised ultimate segments 2-8 mm long; petioles of the lower leaves bear short tubular sheaths and are weakly hispid, while the upper leaves are short-petiolate to sessile and more finely cut. The compound umbels are small and inconspicuous, terminal or leaf-opposed, with 2-5 rather short hispid rays and one to several narrow lanceolate bracts; secondary umbellules each carry 3-5 small white or pinkish flowers about 1.5 mm across, often with the outer flowers slightly larger and zygomorphic. The most distinctive feature is the fruit, a stoutly cylindric to ovoid-oblong schizocarp 8-15 mm long bearing four rows of strongly hooked, conspicuous spines that arise from prominent secondary ridges; these bur-like fruits cling readily to clothing and animal fur for dispersal. Native to the Mediterranean region and central and southern Europe, eastward to western Asia, where it grows as a weed of cereal fields, fallow ground, vineyards and other dry cultivated soils.