The following description is taken from Flora of China Editorial Committee (2015):
C. viscosa is an annual herb, up to 160 cm tall. Stems simple or branched, ± glandular hirsute, viscous. Petiole 1.5–4.5(–8) cm, glandular hirsute;leaflets 3 or 5;leaflet blades ovate to oblanceolate-elliptic, (0.6–)2–6 × 0.5–3.5 cm, both surfaces glandular hirsute, margin entire to glandular ciliate, apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescences 5–10 cm but 10–15 cm in fruit;bracts 1–2.5 cm, palmately compound, 3-foliolate, often deciduous, glandular hirsute. Pedicel 0.6–3 cm, glandular hirsute. Inflorescences 3–6-flowered. Sepals green, equal, distinct, 5–10 × 0.8–1.2 mm, lanceolate, persistent, glandular hirsute, base cuneate, margin entire. Petals bright yellow, basally sometimes purple, arranged in an adaxial semicircle before anthesis but radially arranged at anthesis, 7–14 × 3–4 mm, oblong to ovate, clawed. Stamens (dimorphic, 4–10 adaxial ones much shorter with a swelling below anthers) green, 5–9 mm;anthers green, 1.4–3 mm. Pistil 6–10 mm, densely glandular;style 1–1.2 mm;stigma capitate. Fruit capsule 3–10 cm × 2–4 mm, strongly ridged longitudinally, dehiscing only partway from apex to base, glandular pubescent or essentially glabrous. Seeds 25–40 (up to 100) per capsule, light brown, 1.2–1.8 × 1–1.2 mm, compressed spherical, transversely finely ridged.
Related invasive species
- Cleome viscosa
Related Farm Practice
- Flora
- Paddies
- Plantations
- Light
C. viscosa is a fast-growing herb of humid and warm habitats. It is commonly found growing as a weed in disturbed sites, gardens, rice paddies, pastures, orchards, abandoned lands, and along roadsides (Flora of China Editorial Committee, 2015;PROTA, 2015). This species is included in the Global Compendium of Weeds where it is listed as an environmental and agricultural weed with moderate economic impacts principally in rice paddies and sugarcane plantations (Randall, 2012). It produces large numbers of sticky seeds which can be dispersed by wind, water, and as a contaminant in farm machinery, farm produce, soil, or adhered to clothes and animal fur (Smith, 1981;PROTA, 2015). Currently, C. viscosa is listed as invasive in India, Singapore, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Galapagos Islands, and on several islands in the Pacific Ocean such Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, and Papua New Guinea among others (Waterhouse, 1993;Kairo et al., 2003;Chandra, 2012;PIER, 2015;Rojas-Sandoval and Acevedo-Rodriguez, 2015).
C. viscosa is a weed in ruderal areas, woodland, grassland, rice paddies, and sugarcane plantations (Holm et al., 1979;Flora of China Editorial Committee, 2015;PROTA, 2015).