Cleomella serrulata
Cleomella serrulata | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Brassicales |
Family: | Cleomaceae |
Genus: | Cleomella |
Species: | C. serrulata
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Binomial name | |
Cleomella serrulata (Pursh) Roalson & J.C.Hall (2015)
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Synonyms[2] | |
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Cleomella serrulata (syns. Cleome serrulata and Peritoma serrulata), commonly known as Rocky Mountain beeplant/beeweed, stinking-clover,[3] bee spider-flower,[4] skunk weed,[5] Navajo spinach,[6] and guaco,[7] is a species of annual plant in the genus Cleomella. Many species of insects are attracted to it, especially bees, which helps in the pollination of nearby plants. It is native to southern Canada and the western and central United States. The plant has often been used for food, to make dyes for paint, and as a treatment in traditional medicine.
Taxonomy
In 1814, Frederick Traugott Pursh described this species in the first volume of Flora Americae Septentrionalis,[8] based upon specimens collected by the Lewis and Clark Expedition near the Vermillion River in South Dakota.[9][10]
In the first volume of Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis in 1824, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle moved this species to a genus which he named Peritoma (replacing the earlier illegitimate name Atalanta Nuttall[11]), and calling the species Peritoma serrulatum.[12]
In 1901,
Description
Cleomella serrulata is an
Moisture, temperature, and time are critical in seed germination.[16] Germination occurs during summer and plants can quickly grow to 1–2 meters (3.3–6.6 ft). Flowers are often covered with a variety of insects, especially bees. Elongated capsules contain the seeds, which are dark brown to black, curved, and have a wart-like appearance.[10] After the seeds are dispersed, the plants begin decomposing.[7]
The plant is called waaʼ in the Navajo language,[17] tumi in the Hopi language, and both aʼpilalu and ado꞉we in the Zuni language.[7]
Distribution and habitat
Cleomella serrulata is native in southern Canada from
Uses
Cleomella serrulata has been used in the southwestern United States as a food, medicine, and dye since prehistoric times and is one of very few wild foods still in use.[7] As food, its seeds can be eaten raw or cooked, or dried and ground into meal for use as a mush. The tender leaves, flowers and shoots can be cooked and eaten as a cooked vegetable[21] or added to cornmeal porridge.[7][22][23] Among the Zuni, the leaves gathered in large quantities and hung indoors to dry for winter use.[24] The young leaves are cooked with corn strongly flavored with chili peppers.[24][25] To reduce its bitter taste, pieces of iron or rust were sometimes added to the cooking pot.[7] Animals rarely feed on this plant because of its disagreeable taste and odor. Nitrate poisoning can result if too much is consumed. Birds do eat the seeds, and the plant provides good cover for land reclamation and upland birds.[10] The Tewa and other Southwestern United States tribes often included Cleome serrulata as a 'fourth sister' in the Three Sisters agriculture system because it attracts bees to help pollinate the beans and squash.[26]
In traditional Native American and frontier medicine, an infusion of the plant is used to treat stomach troubles and fevers, and poultices made from it can be used on the eyes.[7][27] As a dye, the plant can be boiled down until it is reduced to a thick, black syrup; this was used as a binder in pigments for painting black-on-white pottery at least as long ago as 900-1300 by the Ancestral Puebloans.[7][22][23] The Navajo still use it to make yellow-green dye for their rugs and blankets.[6] Plant paste is used with black mineral paint to color sticks of plume offerings to anthropic gods,[24] and the whole plant except for the root is used in pottery decorations.[24]
Ecology
The flowers are attractive to and support a wide variety of
Gallery
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Habitat
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Purple flowers
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White flowers
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Fruit
Notes
- ^ NatureServe (2024). "Cleome serrulata". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ Cleomella serrulata (Pursh) Roalson & J.C.Hall. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ a b "Cleomella serrulata". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
- ^ "Cleome serrulata - Pursh". NatureServe. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ a b "Cleome serrulata". Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ a b Prendusi, Teresa. "Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome serrulata)". USDA Forest Service. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ S2CID 132078645.
- ^ Pursh, F. (1814). Flora Americæ Septentrionalis. Vol. I. London: White, Cochrane, and Co. p. 441. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ a b "Rocky Mountain Beeplant (Cleome serrulata)". Native Wildflowers of the North Dakota Grasslands. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g Winslow, Susan R. (September 2014). "Rocky Mountain Beeplant Cleome serrulata Pursh" (PDF). Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ^ a b Greene, E. L. (1901). Pittonia A Series of Papers Relating to Botany and Botanists. Vol. 4. Washington, D.C.: Press of the Law Reporter Company. p. 208. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- .
- ^ a b "Peritoma serrulata (Pursh) DC". University of British Columbia. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ a b "Peritoma serrulata Pursh". Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- S2CID 29838766.
- JSTOR 23433047.
- ISBN 978-0-4-8642105-6.
- ^ "Cleome serrulata". Global Plants. JSTOR. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
- ^ "Cleome serrulata". USDA Plants Profile. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- JSTOR 23293557.
- JSTOR 43996285., s.v. Beeweed Pueblo
- ^ a b "Bee Weed (V. Cornell)". Paleoethnobotany Manual. Northern Arizona University. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ a b "Bee Weed (L. Caruthers)". Paleoethnobotany Manual. Northern Arizona University. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Stevenson, Matilda Coxe (1908). "Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians". Thirtieth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology for 1908. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office: 69, 82, 96.
- ^ Castetter, E. F. (1935). "Uncultivated Native Plants Used as Sources of Food". Ethnobiological Studies in the American Southwest I. 4 (1). University of New Mexico Bulletin: 1–44.
- ISBN 1-890132-52-7.
- ^ Swinski, Kirsten. "Cleome serrulata Pursh". Northern Arizona University. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
- ^ a b The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.