Devil’s Claw: the Ultimate Desert Hooker!

I came across a dried Devil’s Claw plant. It is one of the most interesting flowering plants of the American Southwest, although it is native of southern Africa.

So, I decided to experiment with it as a sculpture.

Its scientific name is Harpagophytum of the sesame family. In the Southwest, it has been used as a medicinal plant, for basket weaving by Native Americans, and recently as herbal supplement. Its root contains iridoid glycosides believed to have anti-inflammatory capabilities. It is said that historically it has been used for heartburn, atherosclerosis management and myalgia. Quite a vast spectrum of attributed benefits!

I found a good site discussing this plant: https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/worthypl.htm

Ok, so the plant had a number of the fruit pods still attached, and 3 others were broken off and nearby. Here is a close up of the broken pods:

Clearly the strange shape the pod takes after drying (when the plant is flowering, the pods look like oversized string beans and are consumed as such) gave them the name of “claws”. In Arizona they are often called “hookers” since they hook to a hikers shoes and travel to new spots to drop their seeds. I have seen devil’s claws hooked to wild animals such as deer and elk, and it is said that sheep farmers in Texas despise this plant as it gets entangled in sheep’s wool.

Given the shape of the plant and my ability to restore the broken pods on it, I thought it would make a miniature dried tree with a base of petrified juniper wood. After all, since it is native of Africa, it reminded me of the trees in the Kalahari Desert.

Here are the pieces before I put them together:

And the final product, after I added feathers and the sun-bleached skull of a coyote. In the background is one of my paintings of a Navajo Medicine Man, which I thought to be relevant given the medicinal use of the plant by Native American tribes.

March 1, 2020

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2020