Cleoserrata speciosa (Raf.) Iltis

Cleoserrata species are annual or short lived perennial herbs. Stem simple or branched, glabrous or grandular pubescent, foetid or sometimes with scattered prickly appendages, stipules absent. Leaves simple, spiral or digitately 3-9 foliate, lanceolate to oblanceolate, margin entire or serrate, lower leaves petiolate, upper ones subsessile to sessile, stipules scalelike, caducous or absent. Inflorescence racemes, solitary to many flowered, terminal or axillary. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, pedicellate, bracts membranous or leaflike, caducous or persistent, sepals 4, equal, valvate, deciduous or persistent, free or slightly fused at the base, subtending nectary glands at the base, pubescent, petals 4, equal or unequal, usually clawed at base, longer than the sepals. Stamens 4-6, filament inserted on a discoid, declinate, glabrous, anthers coil after pollen release. Ovary superior, bicarpellary, unilocular, ovules many on parietal 2 placentae, style short or absent, gynophore recurved. Fruit capsule, dehiscent, linear oblong, with persistent seed bearing replum. Seeds 10-30, orbicular or reniform, cleft fused between 2 ends, not arillate, embryo straight.

Cleoserrata species flowers are complete, bisexual, i.e., with functional male (androecium) and female (gynoecium), including stamens, carpels and ovary or unisexual because of incomplete development. Pollination is entomophilous i.e., by insects, or cleistogamy i.e., by self or allogamy i.e., by cross pollination. Flowering/Fruiting: April-May/September-October.

Seeds may be dispersed by autochory i.e., self dispersal, anemochory i.e., wind dispersal, zoochory i.e., dispersal by birds or animals, anthropochory i.e., dispersal by humans.

Annual herbs, about 40-150 cm tall. Stem erect, simple or hardly sparsely branched, glabrous, smooth or sparsely scattered with whitish spine like protuberances, rarely sparsely glabrescent. Leaves 3-7 foliate, leaflets subsessile, central leaflet largest, lateral leaflets towards the petiole the smallest, lanceolate-ovate, narrow oblong to linear elliptic, about 9-15 x 2-4.5 cm across, base caudate, webbed, margin entire, apex acuminate, midrib impressed above and slightly prominent beneath, lateral veins 12-22 on either side of the midrib, chartaceous, petiole about 4-15 cm long. Inflorescence racemes, many densely flowered, lax and elongated in fruit, terminal, glandular pubescent, about 7-25 cm long, up to 50 cm long in fruit, subtended bracts unifoliate leaflike, Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic, white to purplish pink, about 2.5 cm across, pedicel filiform, slender, about 2-3.5 cm long, sepals 4, lanceolate, margin ciliate, apex subacute, puberulous, about 2.5-5 x 0.8-1.5 mm across, petals 4, lanceolate, imbricate, narrowed, clawed at base, apex obtuse, about 20-40 x 4-8 mm across. Androphore slightly thick near the base and apex, glabrous, about 6-9 mm long. Stamens 6, filaments filiform, glabrous, about 5-6 cm long, anthers greenish, about 5-6 mm long. Ovary superior, linear cylindric, bicarpellary, glabrous, about 5-6 x 1 mm across, gynophore about 4-6 cm long, elongated up to 9 cm in fruit, style about 1 mm long. Fruit capsule, dehiscent, linear cylindric, pendent shaped, about 50-90 x 2.5-3 mm across, scarsely torulose, with persistent seed bearing replum. Seeds 10-20, horse shoe shaped, about 2.5-3.5 mm across, tuberculate, cleft fused between 2 ends, surface smooth with scales, brown.

Cleoserrata species are susceptible to various insect pests, virus, and fungi, affecting leaves, fruits and roots.

Cultivated in gardens also found as an escape near roadsides and waste places, altitude from sea level 1500 m, Native of tropical America, introduced and naturalized.

Not evaluated (IUCN).

Cultivated as ornamental.