Real Water Caltrop - Trapa natans specimen encased in clear lucite material. The specimen is crystal clear, indestructible and transparent. Safe, authentic and completely unbreakable product put real Water Caltrop right at your fingertips!

Anyone can safely explore the Water Caltrop from every angle.

It is clear enough for microscope observation.

Length of the Water Caltrop is 7.5 cm(3.0 inch).

Size of the lucite block is 11x4.5x2.5 cm(4.3x1.6x1.0 inch).

Each one comes with a cardboard box for easy storage.

Weight of the lucite block is 150 g and 180 g with packing box.

It is an ideal learning aid for students and kids and also a very good collectible item for every body.

This is a handmade real animal specimen craft. Each one will be a bit different (specimen size, color and posture) even in the same production batch.
The pictures in our listing are just for reference as we are selling multiple pieces with same pictures.

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Buffalo Nut - Trapa natans

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Myrtales
Family: Trapaceae
Genus: Trapa

The water caltrop, water chestnut, buffalo nut, bat nut, devil pod, or Pani-fol is any of three extant species of the genus Trapa: Trapa natans, T. bicornis and the endangered Trapa rossica. The species are floating annual aquatic plants, growing in slow-moving water up to 5 meters deep, native to warm temperate parts of Eurasia and Africa. They bear ornately shaped fruits, which in the case of T. bicornis resemble the head of a bull, each fruit containing a single very large starchy seed. T. natans and T. bicornis have been cultivated in China and India for at least 3,000 years for the edible seeds.

The generic name Trapa is derived from the Latin word for "thistle," calcitrappa, as also is another common name for the water caltrop. The Chinese name is língjiǎo, líng meaning "caltrop" and jiǎo meaning "horn."

Biology

The water caltrop's submerged stem reaches 12 to 15 ft (3.6 to 4.5 m) in length, anchored into the mud by very fine roots. It has two types of leaves, finely divided feather-like submerged leaves born along the length of the stem, and undivided floating leaves born in a rosette at the water's surface. The floating leaves have saw-tooth edges and are ovoid or triangular in shape, 2–3 cm long, on inflated petioles 5–9 cm long which provide added buoyancy for the leafy portion. Four-petaled white flowers form in early summer and are insect-pollinated. The fruit is a nut with four 0.5 in (1 cm), barbed spines. Seeds can remain viable for up to 12 years, although most will germinate within the first two years.

The plant spreads by the rosette and fruits detaching from the stem and floating to another area on currents or by fruits clinging to objects, birds and other animals.

History

Investigations of archaeological material from southern Germany indicate that the prehistoric population of that region may well have relied significantly upon wild water chestnuts to supplement their normal diet and, in times of cultivated cereal crop failure, water chestnuts may even have been the main dietary component. [1]

In the Chinese Zhou Dynasty, water caltrop was an important food for worship as prayer offerings.

It was possible to buy water chestnuts in markets all over Europe until 1880. In northern Italy the nuts were offered roasted, much as sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa Mill.) are still sold today. At many places in Europe water chestnuts were known and used for human food until the beginning of the 20th century. Today, however, it is a rare plant. There may be several reasons for its near extinction, such as climate fluctuations, changes in the nutrient content of water bodies, and the drainage of many wetlands, ponds and oxbow lakes.

It was introduced to North America around 1874, and escaped cultivation in the eastern United States, where it has become an invasive species from Vermont to Virginia.

In Australia, and its state of New South Wales water caltrop is declared as a noxious weed.