[5][6] Caucalis platycarpos is an annual up to 40 centimetres (16 in) tall with trailing stems.

The fruit is an oblong capsule with many hooked spines on the surface.

[5][7] It is distributed in southwest Asia, North Africa and most of central and Southern Europe; almost all of the Iberian Peninsula.

It is found in crop fields, fallows and nitrophilous grasslands.

Flowering occurs in March-June (July) and fruiting in May-August.