TWO-SPINED SINGHARA NUT

By Botanica Wichita | July 16, 2025

Trapa natans var. bispinosa (Lythraceae)
Location: India

The fruit of the water chestnut is edible. As a useful source
of starch and fat, it can be dried and ground into flour. It is
therefore widely cultivated in the tropics and in India it is called
singhara. It also has the name ‘water caltrops’, because its
single-seeded fruits resemble the spiky metal devices scattered
on the ground to pierce the hooves of an enemy’s horse in
medieval times. The spines develop from two or more of the four
corners of the fruit. The form with two spines was described in
1815 by William Roxburgh from a specimen from India and given
the name Trapa bispinosa. It is now recognized as a variety.

Posted in Seeds