El Paso: Goat Heads!

Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

October 2016


I first learned about the botanical scourge known as goat heads when I lived in Alamogordo back in 2012/2013.  Some lurid descriptions:

Like this one: 

You've dealt with prickers before. You've dealt with burrs before. You've never dealt with anything like goatheads before. These things are vicious. They go through heavy duty tires with kevlar tube liners like they aren't even there. And you simply cannot avoid them. They're everywhere, and they're attracted to shoes, bicycle tires, and exposed flesh as though magnetized!

Or this one: "... the most evil plant that has ever existed ... "

Or this one: "...They seem like a few stray, ground-hugging weeds overgrowing the middle of the trail. Nothing to worry about you think! You've jumped stumps higher than your helmet. You've descended rock-strewn cliffs that would scare a mountain goat. You are not afraid of mere weeds! You will be."

I never actually met a goat head while I lived in New Mexico, but the descriptions of these tiny dried plantoids were scary, indeed.

Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

I never actually met a goat head until ..... I visited El Paso's Concordia Cemetery for the Dia de los Muertos festival.


My first introduction was a piercing little stab in the bottom of my foot. Pointy grain of sand got into my shoe? Noooo. When I removed my shoe, shook it out, and put it back on my foot, the little stab returned. Took the shoe off, turned it over to look at the sole, and there they were.

Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Miraculously, only one tiny spear had worked its way through my sole, but all its friends were just waiting their turn to weasel in for a kill.

Goat heads, Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Utterly fascinating, in a macabre sort of way.

New Mexico: Goat Heads! Poison Plants!

Goat heads. What the hell, you ask?

Yeah, I know, weird. It's a plant. Also known as "puncture vine."

This innocent-looking ground cover inspires murderous loathing among New Mexican pedestrians, cyclists, and even drivers. Some people with dogs won't even walk barefoot on their own houses. I don't know why. Look at the ferny, sweet foliage. The demure yellow flower.

Credit: Wikipedia

 Oh, but .... what's this ... this horny looking thing? It doesn't look so sweet. It looks a little devilish.

Credit: Wikipedia

That's the fruit of the plant? How odd. And these things below ... that will puncture a tire of a vehicle or bike? Or cause excruciating pain if you step on it? The fruit after it's dried.

Credit: Wikipedia

Described as "thumbtack-like."

Here is an organization with the sole mission of eradicating this plant from the face of the earth. You can even buy the t-shirt.

Credit: No Goatheads

The graphic is of two people who have just stepped on a dried goat head.

Descriptions of goat head encounters sound a little like horror movie trailers. Like this one: 

You've dealt with prickers before. You've dealt with burrs before. You've never dealt with anything like goatheads before. These things are vicious. They go through heavy duty tires with kevlar tube liners like they aren't even there. And you simply cannot avoid them. They're everywhere, and they're attracted to shoes, bicycle tires, and exposed flesh as though magnetized!

Or this one: "... the most evil plant that has ever existed ... "

Or this one: "...They seem like a few stray, ground-hugging weeds overgrowing the middle of the trail. Nothing to worry about you think! You've jumped stumps higher than your helmet. You've descended rock-strewn cliffs that would scare a mountain goat. You are not afraid of mere weeds! You will be."


I thought I had walked by a goat head plant the other day on a walk, but the foliage and plant shape didn't fit the descriptions. Upon further investigation, I discovered my specimens were from the poisonous plant datura quercifolia, aka oak-leaf thorn apple or china thorn apple.

datura quercifolia, Alamogordo, New Mexico

datura quercifolia, Alamogordo, New Mexico

datura quercifolia, Alamogordo, New Mexico

datura quercifolia, Alamogordo, New Mexico