西洋白花菜 xi yang bai hua cai

Cleome speciosa Rafinesque, Fl. Ludov. 86. 1817; C. speciosissima Deppe ex Lindley; C. yunnanensis W. W. Smith; Gynandropsis speciosa (Kunth) Candolle.

Herbs, annual, 0.5-1.5 m tall. Stems simple or sparsely branched, fluted, glabrous or sparsely glandular pubescent. Petiole 2-12 cm, glandular pubescent; leaflets (3 or)5-9; leaflet blades narrowly lanceolate-elliptic, 6-15 × 1-5 cm, both surfaces glabrate to glandular pubescent, base attenuate, margin entire or serrulate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences 15-50 cm but 20-60 cm in fruit, glandular pubescent; bracts narrowly ovate-cordate, 0.3-1.8 cm. Pedicel 1-5 cm, glabrous. Sepals green, lanceolate, 4-7 × 0.8-1.2 mm, equal, distinct, persistent, glandular pubescent, base cuneate, margin entire. Petals brilliant pink to purple but fading to pink or white by second day, rarely initially white, ovate, 1.5-4.2 × 0.8-1.1 cm, clawed. Androgynophore ca. 4 mm at anthesis; stamens 4-8.5 cm; anthers 6-10 mm. Pistil 6-10 mm; style 1-1.2 mm. Fruit gynophore 3-8.5 cm, with scars from filaments on ca. 1 cm of androgynophore and visible on ca. 1/4 of its length; capsule cylindric but irregularly contracted between seeds, 6-15 cm × 3-5 mm. Seeds 10-30 per capsule, pale green to brown, subspherical, 2.5-3.5 × 1-1.2 mm, tuberculate. Fl. Aug-Nov, fr. Sep-Dec. 2n = 48.

Disturbed places; near sea level to 1500(-3400) m. Introduced and sometimes escaped in Guangdong, Taiwan, and Yunnan [native to Mexico and Central America].

This species is often cultivated in gardens in S China and elsewhere in warm climates.

Cleome yunnanensis, described from China, is a variant of this species with mostly ternate leaves. The type, from Yunnan (Forrest 13762), probably represents escaped garden plants.