Volume IV (1988) - Flora of New Zealand Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons
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Cleome hassleriana Chodat

*C. hassleriana Chodat, Bull. Herb. Boiss.  6, app. 1:   12  (1898)

spider flower

Erect bushy annual herb. Stems stout, ribbed, pubescent, 0.5-2 m tall. Petioles pubescent, sometimes sparsely spiny, 3-10-(15) cm long, with a pair of short stipular spines at base. Lamina digitate-compound; leaflets 5-7, lanceolate, pubescent especially on margins and veins with short, sometimes glandular, hairs, sometimes sparsely spiny on midrib below. Infl. a terminal raceme. Bracts ovate, acute, 1-2 cm long, the lower stalked, the upper sessile, all with a pair of stipular spines at base. Pedicels 2-3-(5) cm long, with glandular hairs. Sepals linear, free, persistent, with glandular hairs. Petals 4; claw 7-10 mm long; limb elliptic, pink, c. 10 mm long. Stamens 6, not exserted in bud, on short androgynophore; filaments 3-4 cm long; anthers curved, c. 1 cm long. Gynophore 3 cm long, elongating to 7 cm at fruiting; ovary c. 7 mm long; stigma sessile. Capsule glabrous, 4-7 × 0.5 cm.

N.: Auckland; S.: Nelson, Christchurch, Otago.

Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay 1979

Waste places and old gardens, rare garden escape.

FL, FT Feb-Apr-(May).

Spider flower is grown as an ornamental in many countries, often under the name C. spinosa. True C. spinosa however, although similar in many respects, is an unattractive weedy plant from C. America [Iltis, H. H., Amer. J. Bot. 54: 953-962 (1967)].

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