Espuela de caballero

Cleome spinosa Jacquin, Enum. Syst. Pl., 26. 1760; C. pubescens Sims; C. pungens Willdenow; C. tonduzii Briquet; Neocleome spinosa (Jacquin) Small

Plants [perennial], 50-200 cm. Stems sparsely to profusely branched; glandular-pubescent (spiny). Leaves: stipular spines 2-5 mm; petiole 2.5-10 cm, glandular-pubescent, with scattered, antrorse spines 1-3 mm; leaflets (3) 5 or 7, blade lanceolate to elliptic-oblanceolate, 4-10(-12) × 1-3 cm, margins serrulate-denticulate, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces glandular-pubescent abaxially, glandular adaxially. Racemes 1-20 cm (10-40 cm in fruit); bracts unifoliate, ovate to broadly elliptic, 8-25 mm. Pedicels 15-30 mm, glandular-pubescent. Flowers: sepals green, lanceolate, 6-8 × 0.8-1.3 mm, glandular-pubescent; petals white or greenish white (somewhat reddish abaxially), oblong to ovate, 11-21(-30) × 8-12 mm, (± glandular-pubescent especially apically); stamens white, 20-50 mm; anthers 9-10 mm; gynophore 45-70 mm in fruit; ovary 6-10 mm, ± glandular-pubescent; style 0.1 mm. Capsules 40-110(-150) × 3-5 mm, ± glandular-pubescent. Seeds 20-30, 1.8-2.2 × 1.9-2.1 mm, smooth. 2n = 20.

Flowering summer. Disturbed roadsides, beaches, vacant lots, waste areas; 0-100 m; introduced; Ala., Fla., Pa., W.Va.; South America; introduced also in Mexico, West Indies, Central America.