Southern shepherd's-needle

Scandix australis, the southern shepherd's-needle, is a small annual herb of the Apiaceae native to the Mediterranean basin, extending through southern Europe, North Africa, and southwestern Asia. The plants are slender and erect, generally 10 to 40 cm tall, with finely dissected, two- to three-pinnate leaves bearing narrow, almost filiform ultimate segments. Compound umbels are sparsely branched and bear small white flowers without an involucre but with conspicuous involucels at the umbellet bases. The fruits are the most distinctive feature: long, narrow schizocarps with a slender beak that may exceed the seed-bearing portion several times in length, giving the umbels a needle-like appearance after flowering. It grows in dry, stony or sandy ground, fallow fields, garrigue, and roadsides, flowering in spring.