醉蝶花 zui die hua

Cleome hassleriana Chodat, Bull. Herb. Boissier 6, App. 1: 12. 1898.

Herbs, annual, (0.5-)1-1.5 m tall. Stems branched, glandular pubescent. Stipular spines 1-3 mm. Petiole 2.5-7.5 cm, glandular pubescent, with scattered 1-3 mm spines; leaflets 5 or 7; leaflet blades elliptic to oblanceolate, 2-6(-12) × 1-3 cm, abaxially glandular pubescent, adaxially glandular, margin serrulate-denticulate, apex acute. Inflorescences 5-30 cm but 10-80 cm in fruit, pedunculate; bracts ovate, 1-2.5 cm. Pedicel 2-4.5 cm, glandular pubescent. Sepals green, equal, distinct, linear-lanceolate, 5-7 × 0.8-1.3 mm, reflexed after anthesis, persistent, glandular pubescent, margin entire, apex acuminate. Petals pink to purple but infrequently white or fading to white by second day, oblong to ovate, 2-3(-4.5) × 0.8-1.2 cm, clawed. Stamens purple, 3-5 cm; anthers green, 9-10 mm. Pistil 6-10 mm; style ca. 0.1 mm. Fruit gynophore 4.5-8 cm; capsule (2.5-)4-8 cm × 2.5-4 mm, in straight alignment with gynophore and pedicel, glabrous. Seeds 10-20 per capsule, dark brown to black, triangular to subspherical, 1.9-2.1 × 1.9-2.1 mm, tuberculate. Fl. (Apr-)May-Dec, fr. Jun-Dec. 2n = 20.

Roadsides, vacant lots, dry hillsides; near sea level to 800(-2000) m. Introduced and sparingly escaped in Guangdong, Hainan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang [native to South America (Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay); widely cultivated and occasionally naturalized in tropical and warm-temperate regions].

In cultivation and in various floras (including FRPS 32: 534: 1999), this species has been treated under the name Cleome spinosa Jacquin; however, Jacquin’s name and type apply to a different species, Tarenaya spinosa (Jacquin) Rafinesque.