5. Gynandropsis Candolle, Prodr. 1: 237. 1824.
羊角菜属 yang jiao cai shu
Pedicellaria Schrank.
Herbs, annual [or rarely short-lived perennials], glabrate or glandular pubescent. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, spirally arranged, palmately compound; petiole long or short, with pulvinus at basal or distal end; leaflets 3 or 5; petiolule bases connate forming a pulvinar disk; leaflet blades oblanceolate to rhombic, margin serrulate-denticulate. Inflorescences terminal, racemose and sometimes elongated, elongating in fruit; bract present at base of pedicels. Flowers zygomorphic. Sepals 4, equal, each often subtending a basal nectary. Petals 4, equal, distinct. Stamens 6; filaments adnate to basal portion of gynophore receptacle forming androgynophore ± as long as petals. Gynophore slender, elongating and recurving in fruit, scars from filaments visible for 1/3-1/2 its length; style short, thick; stigma 1, capitate. Fruit an oblong capsule, dehiscent. Seeds 10-40 per capsule, subspherical, not arillate; cleft fused between 2 ends of seed.
Two species: pantropical and warm temperate; one species in China.
The center of diversity is in S Asia. Gynandropsis is allied to Cleome but is distinguished by the long, conspicuous androgynophore. It has sometimes been included in Cleome, but most regional accounts of Capparaceae or Cleomaceae (e.g., Jafri, Fl. Pakistan 34: 17-20. 1973) in the Old World have given it generic status, an approach followed here.
