Water caltrop

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Water caltrop
Water-caltrops.jpg
Boiled water caltrop (T. bicornis) seeds
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
(unranked):
(unranked):
(unranked):
Order:
Family:
Subfamily:
Trapoideae
Genus:
Trapa
Type species
Trapa natans
Species
  • T. natans
  • T. bicornis
  • T. rossica

The water caltrop or water chestnut (although not to be confused with Eleocharis dulcis) is an aquatic plant whose black, winged fruits each contain a single, starchy seed.

The fruits of T. bicornis have two prongs and look somewhat like a bat, but I believe some of the other species have four prongs like an actual caltrop.

The seed was palatable and starchy like a chestnut, but I found the "sulfur" or "sewer gas" smell of these to be off-putting. It's possible that fresher ones have a more pleasant smell.

Acknowledgements

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Water caltrop, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.