Thulin, M. & L.E. Kers (1993) Cleome in Flora of Somalia 1: 53-59
Plants herbs, sometimes woody below. Leaves alternate, stipulate; stipules minute or rudimentary; blades simple or palmately-compound. Inflorescences racemes. Flowers pedicellate, radially or bilaterally symmetric; sepals 4, free; petals 4, equal or unequal, often long-clawed; stamens 6-many, free, sometimes on an androgynophore; ovaries with many ovules, sometimes on a gynophore. Fruits more or less linear capsules opeining by two thin valves, leaving the persistent placentas as a frame; seeds round-reniform, usually ornamented.
Cleome includes about 200 species. They grow in tropical and subtropical regions of both hemispheres.
2022-Jan 3: POWO includes Gynandropsis in Cleome, a treatment that was followed by Thulin and Kers. Patchell et al. (2014) found Gynandropsis to be monophyletic, but this is based on a much narrower interpretation of Cleome. There is definitely justification for their approach, but not all the names needed to follow their recommendations have been published.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.
Patchell, M.J., E.H. Roalson, & J.C.Hall (2014)Resolved phylogeny of Cleomaceae based on all three genomes. TAXON 63 (2): 315-328. https://doi.org/10.12705/632.17.
