Asian spiderflower (Cleome viscosa)

Asian spiderflower (Cleome viscosa) is a species of plant in the Cleomaceae, an annual herbaceous plant, up to 1,6 meter high, thick and hairy stems, cylindrical in shape, widely grown in warm and humid habitats.

C. viscosa has leaves with long petioles 1.5-6 cm and glandular hairs. The leaf blade is three to five fingered, ovate to oblanceolate-elliptic, 2-6,5 cm long, 0.5-6 cm wide, green and hairy.





Yellow flowers with four crowns. The capsule is dehiscing only partially from apex to base, 30-100 mm long, 2-4 mm wide and glandular haired. Seeds are light brown, 1.2-1.8 × 1-1.2 mm and finely serrated transversely.

Crushed leaves are used to prevent beetle attacks. The leaves are used externally for wounds and ulcers. The juice of the leaves is used as a medicine to remove pus from the ear. The seeds are anthelmintic and carminative.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Brassicales
Family: Cleomaceae
Genus: Cleome L. in Sp. Pl.: 671 (1753)
Species: Cleome viscosa L. in Sp. Pl.: 672 (1753)
Variety: Cleome viscosa var. deglabrata (Backer) B.S.Sun, Cleome viscosa var. nagarjunakondensis Sundararagh, Cleome viscosa var. viscosa

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Arivela viscosa (L.) Raf. in Sylva Tellur.: 110 (1838)
Corynandra viscosa (L.) Cochrane & Iltis in Novon 23: 24 (2014)
Polanisia viscosa (L.) DC. in Prodr. 1: 242 (1824)
Polanisia viscosa var. genuina Backer in Fl. Batavia: 52 (1907)
Sinapistrum viscosum (L.) Moench in Suppl. Meth.: 83 (1802)

PUBLICATIONS

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VERNACULAR NAME

Australia: Tickweed
Burmese: ခြင်ကောင်ပေါင်းပင်
Chinese (simplified): 黄花草
Chinese (traditional): 向天黃 - 黃花草
English: Asian Spiderflower, Mustard bush, Tickweed, Dog mustard
Filipino: Gamot na damo
French: Cléome visqueux
Indonesia: Gulma kutu
Japanese: キバナフウチョウソウ
Khmer: ស្មៅ​ឆ្ក
Lao: ຫຍ້າເຫັບ
Malaysia: Rumpai kutu
Russian: Клеоме клейкая
Spanish: Cola de rata, Jitomate, Frijol cimarrón, Tabaquillo
Thai: ผักเสี้ยนผี
Vietnam: Cỏ ve

Aryo Bandoro
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