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Cleome speciosa
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Family:
CAPPARACEAE
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Citation: Cleome speciosa HBK, Nov. Gen. Sp. 5: 84, t. 436. 1821; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 33. 1982; Ansari, Fl. Kasaragod Div. 62. 1985; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 47. 1988; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 67. 1989; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 57. 1990; Sundararagh. in B.D. Sharma & N.P. Balakr., Fl. India 2: 316. 1993; R. Sundara. & N.P. Balakr. in P. Daniel, Fl. Kerala 1: 244. 2005.
Gynandropsis speciosa (HBK) DC., Prodr. 1: 238. 1824.
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Malayalam Name(s):
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
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Description:
Annual, erect herb, to 1.5 m high, hardly branched; stems smooth or with scattered spine-like protuberances, glabrous, rarely glabrescent, whitish. Leaves 3-7 foliolate; petioles 4-15 cm long; leaflets subsessile, ovate-lanceolate to elliptic, narrow and webbed at base, acuminate at apex, 9-15 x 1.5-4.5 cm, chartaceous; lateral nerves 7-20 pairs. Flowers ca 2.5 cm across, in 7-25 cm long racemes, showy, subtended by subsessile foliaceous bracts; pedicels filiform, 2-3.5 cm x ca 3 mm. Sepals subulate to lanceolate, 2.5-5 x 0.8-1.5 mm, ciliate, puberulous. Petals imbricate, erect, lanceolate, narrowing into a claw at base, rounded at apex, 20-40 x 4-8 mm including claw, pink, rose or purple, rarely white. Androphore 5-9 mm long, slightly incrassate at base and top, glabrous. Stamens 6; filaments filiform, 5-6 cm long, glabrous; anthers 5-6 mm long, greenish. Gynophore 4-6 cm long, elongating to 9 cm in fruit, glabrous. Ovary linear-cylindric, 5-6 x ca 1 mm, glabrous. Capsules pendent linear-cylindric, 6-10 cm x ca 3 mm, longitudinally striate; valves parallel-nerved; seeds many, horseshoe shaped with closed cleft, 2.5-3.5 mm across, tubercled, and brown-scaly.
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Habit:
Herb
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Flowering & Fruiting:
April-October
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District(s):
All Districts
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Medicinal:
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Habitat:
Grown as garden plant, also getting naturalised
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Distribution:
Native of Tropical America and West Indies, introduced elsewhere
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
White, Pink, Violet
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
Yes
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Garden:
Yes
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Payyavur, Karappa
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