''Cleomella brevipes'' is a species of flowering plant in the
cleome family known by the common name shortstalk stinkweed. It is native to the
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
and adjacent hills, where it grows in wet
alkaline
In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...
environments such as mineral-rich
desert hot springs. It is an annual herb producing a rough, waxy, red stem up to about 45 centimeters tall. The stem is lined with many small fleshy leaves, each divided into three leaflets. Flowers appear in the leaf axils all along the stem, often all the way down to the base. Each grows at the end of a short, erect
pedicel
Pedicle or pedicel may refer to:
Human anatomy
*Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures
...
. The flower has four tiny yellow
sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...
s and four tiny yellow petals. The fruit is a somewhat rounded, hanging capsule developing at the end of the remaining flower receptacle.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery
brevipes
Flora of California
Flora of Nevada
{{Brassicales-stub