Cleome
(name adopted by Linnaeus from Theodosius). Spider Flower. Including Peritoma and Polanisia. ORD. Capparideoe. A large genus, comprising about seventy species, mostly annual herbs--a few are shrubby. Flowers white, yellow, or purple, showy, solitary or racemose. Leaves simple, or digitately three to seven-foliate. They should be raised from seeds in spring, in a frame, with slight warmth, potted off singly, and hardened subsequently, so as to be planted out in May, when they should be vigorous plants. Cleomes thrive best in light rich soil, in a dry, warm situation, where they have plenty of room to spread. The stove shrubby species also require a light rich soil, and ripened cuttings root readily under a hand glass, in moderate heat; but as they produce seed freely, this will be unnecessary. The stove annuals are of easy culture.
C. arborea (tree-like). fl. white. June. l., leaflets seven, with about twenty veins on each. h. 6ft. to 8ft. Caraccas, 1817. Stove shrub, velvety-pubescent, somewhat clammy.
C. gigantea (gigantic).* fl. whitish-green, with pinkish filaments and yellow anthers. June. l. seven-foliolate, with thirty to forty veins on each leaflet. Plant velvety-pubescent, somewhat clammy. h. 6ft. to 12ft. South America, 1774. This is a beautiful stove shrub, but has a strong disagreeable smell, and a caustic taste. (B. M. 3137.)
C. pungens (pungent).* fl. white, flesh-coloured, or rose, with purplish stamens and brownish anthers. July. l. prickly, covered with clammy hairs, with five to seven leaflets; bracts simple, cordate, or ovate. h. 1ft. to 3ft. West Indies, &c., 1817. Stove annual. SYN. C. spinosa. (B. M. 1640.)
C. rosea (rose).* fl. beautiful rose-coloured. June. l., leaflets quinate; lower and floral ones ternate; uppermost ones ovate, sessile. Stem erect, branched. h. 1 1/2ft. Rio Janeiro, 1824. An unarmed, smooth, stove biennial. (B. R. 960.) C. speciosissima (showiest). fl. beautiful rose-coloured. July. l., leaflets five to seven, lanceolate, acuminate, pilose. h. 1 1/2ft. Mexico, 1829. An unarmed hardy annual. (B. R. 1312.)
C. spinosa (prickly). Synonymous with C. pungens.