Tribulus parvispinus Presl
Annual to biennial, prostrate, silvery pubescent herb. Stem with slender branches and short internodes. Leaves paripinnate, up to 2.5 cm long; stipules subulate-lanceolate, 3-4 mm long; leaflets 4-6 pairs, elliptic-oblong, sessile, 3-8 mm long, 2-4 mm broad, inequilateral, acute. Flowers yellow, 1 cm or less across; pedical up to 1 cm long. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, c. 3-4 mm long, acute. Petals oblong-spathulate, c. 4-5 mm long, c. 3 mm broad, obtuse. Stamens mostly 5, rarely more, filaments c. 3 mm long. Ovary ovoid, beset with bulbous based upwardly directed hairs; style short, stigmas decurrent. Fruit disc like, up to c. 8 mm in diameter, c. 4-5 mm long mericarps mostly 4-spined, rarely lower 2 deficient or reduced, dorsally tuberculate.
Fl. Per.: February-August.
Type: Egypt, Kahirae, Forskal (BM).
Distribution: India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, S.W. Arabia, tropical and North Africa, Madagascar and South Africa.
Fairly common after rains in sandy and sandy clay loam soils.