Cleome maculata

What to Eat

Edible parts: Vegetable, Leaves, Stem, Flowers

The leaves, stems, and flowers are edible; leaves and stems are typically cooked as a vegetable, and flowers can be eaten raw or cooked.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical and subtropical plant. It grows in sandy soil.

Africa, Botswana, East Africa, South Africa, Southern Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

How to Identify

A small herb. It grows 30 cm high. It grows each year from seed. The stem is thin and light green with lines along them. The leaves are compound with 3-5 narrow leaflets. The leaflets are 4-5 cm long by about 1 mm wide. The flowers are in a loose group at the ends of the branches. The flowers are pink or red. The fruit is a narrow capsule.

Cleome maculata is a species of cleome that is native to southern Africa, where it occurs in sandy soils, especially in rocky habitats, and on slopes. It is a mostly annual plant, which is found in highveld regions of medium rainfall in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. It is an erect and simple or branching plant, usually less than a foot tall, with sparse leaves. The linear leaflets are three to five compound. Two of the up-curved, mauve flower petals have a yellow mark at their center, which is bordered with dark purple. The long, up-curved stamens are tipped with bluish, knobby anthers. The fruit is a linear capsule. The species is a pioneer plant that may become a weed.

More from Cleomaceae

Cleome allamanii

Cleome arabica

Cleome brachycarpa

Cleome briquetii

Cleome chelidonii

Spider-flower

Cleome felina

Cat spider flower