Vor. II] CAPER FAMILY. 155 
Pod long-stipitate on its pedicel; stamens 4-6. 
Pod linear-elongated; petals generally clawed. 
Petals entire. 1. Cleome. 
Petals laciniate. 2. Cristatella. 
Pod short, rhomboid; petals sessile. 3. Cleomella, 
Pod nearly or quite sessile on its pedicel. 4. Polanisia, 
1. CLEOME L,. Sp. Pl. 671. 1753. 
Herbs or low shrubs, generally branching. Leaves digitately 3-5-foliolate, or simple. 
Leaflets entire or serrulate. Calyx 4-divided or of 4 sepals, often persistent. Petals 4, cru- 
ciate, nearly equal, entire, more or less clawed. Receptacle short, slightly prolonged above 
the petal-bases. Stamens 6 (rarely 4), inserted on the receptacle above the petals. Ovary 
stalked, with a gland at its base. Capsule elongated, long-stipitate, many-seeded. [Deriva- 
tion uncertain; perhaps from the Greek, to shut. ] 
About 75 species, mainly natives of tropical regions, especially American and African. In ad- 
dition to the following, 4 others occur in the western part of the United States. 
Leaves 3-foliolate; flowers pink, or white. 1. C. serrulata. 
Leaves, at least the lower, 5-7-foliolate. 
Flowers pink, or white. 2. C. spinosa. 
Flowers yellow. 3. C. lutea. 
1. Cleome serrulata Pursh. Pink 
Cleome. (Fig. 1791.) 
Cleome serrulata Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 441. 1814. 
Cleome integrifolia T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1:122. 1838. 
Erect, glabrous, 2°-3° high, branching 
above. Leaves 3-foliolate, the lower long and 
slender-petioled, the upper sessile or nearly so; 
leaflets lanceolate or oblong, acute, entire or 
distantly serrulate, 1/—3/ long; fruiting racemes 
greatly elongated; bracts lanceolate or 
linear, often mucronate; pedicels slender, 
spreading or recurved and 6//-10’ long in 
fruit; stipe of the pod about equalling the 
pedicel; flowers pink or white, very showy; 
petals oblong, slightly clawed, 5/’-6’ long, 
obtuse; pods linear, acute, 1/-2’ long. 
Prairies, northern Illinois to Minnesota and 
the Canadian Rocky Mountains, southwest to 
Kansas, New Mexico and Arizona. Naturalized 
from the west, in its eastern range. July—Sept. 
2. Cleome spinosa l,. Spider- 
flower. (Fig. 1792.) 
Cleome spinosa J,. Sp. Pl. Ed. 2, 939. 1763. 
Cleome pungens Willd. Enum. P1. 689. 1809. 
Erect, 2°-4° high, branching above, 
clammy-pubescent. Leaves 5~-7-foliolate, 
the lower long-petioled, 5’-8’ in diameter, 
the upper shorter-petioled or nearly ses- 
sile, passing into the simple lanceolate or 
cordate-ovate bracts of the raceme; peti- 
oles spiny at the base; leaflets lanceolate 
or oblong-lanceolate, acute, minutely 
serrulate; flowers numerous, long-pedi- 
celled, showy, purple or whitish, 1’ broad 
or more; petals obovate, long-clawed; 
stipe of the linear glabrous pod at length 
2/-6’ long; stamens variable in length, 
often long-exserted. 
In waste places, southern New Jersey to 
Florida, west to Illinois and Louisiana. 
Sometimes cultivated for ornament. Fugi- 
tive or adventive from tropical America. 
Summer. 
