About Cleomella plocasperma S.Watson
Cleomella plocasperma S.Watson is a species of flowering plant in the cleome family, with the common names twisted cleomella and alkali stinkweed. It is native to the Great Basin and Mojave Desert in the western United States, where it grows primarily in wet, alkaline soils, for example the ground around hot springs. A separate, disjunct population of this species can be found in the Bruneau Valley of southwestern Idaho. It grows alongside other halophytic plant species, including saltgrass and greasewood. This species is an annual herb that grows a smooth, hairless stem, which splits into several erect, upright branches that can reach over half a meter in height. Its sparse leaves are each divided into three narrow leaflets. Flowers grow in a raceme at the tip of each stem branch. Each individual flower has four yellow petals and several long stamens that can grow over one centimeter long. The fruit is a lobed capsule that hangs from the tip of the leftover flower receptacle.
