Cleome paradoxa R.Br. ex DC.
Ara.: Hindeib, mufrak el rowair, na’anaa, kowal (last 3 in Sudan). Tamahaq: ézéfargasan, azren, hoyad, aehooyad.
Herbaceous perennial robust plant or subshrub large in size (up to 2 m) with woody rootstock, exceptionally annual. Glabrous or sparsely glandular at the top of the stems. Leaves compound, imparipinnate, with 3-5 leaflets 1.5-6 × 0.1-0.6 cm, linear to narrowly elliptic, glabrous, with petiole 2-10 cm. Flowers bracteate, in a raceme with numerous flowers, bracts 5-15 × 0.5-1 mm and pedicels 1-3 cm. Sepals lanceolate or triangular-ovate, glandular, irregular. Petals dimorphic, the larger petals double in size of the smaller ones (1.5-3 × 0.5-1.5 cm), elliptic, yellow, sometimes with a strong reddish venation. Stamens 6. Gynophore 1-2.5 cm. Fruits linear, long (9-13 × 0.3-0.6 cm). Seeds reticulated, 1.5 mm, densely hairy at maturity.
Flowering:
February to May and sometimes in other periods of exceptional rainfall.
Fruiting:
About a month after flowering.
Habitat:
Sandy wadis, rocky slopes, with a sporadic ruderal behaviour.
Distribution:
Southern Sahara and Arabian Peninsula. It reaches as far north as Libya and Egypt.
Observations:
A similar species, also with linear leaflets, is C. tenella L.f.; it can be differentiated by its much shorter leaflets (1-3 cm), smaller flowers (c. 4 mm) with white or pale yellow petals, and much shorter capsules (3.5-5 cm). Its distribution is mainly Sahelian-Sindian, from Mauritania and Senegal to India, reaching towards the S to Tanzania and Madagascar. In North Africa, it grows in the Sahel, from Mauritania up to Sudan and Eritrea.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Livre Rouge de la flore vasculaire du Maroc (Fennane, 2021) C. amblyocarpa has been considered as Least Concern (LC). In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) C. viscosa is listed as “Rare”.