''Peritoma'' was a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

in the

plant family Family ( la, familia, plural ') is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of ...

Cleomaceae The Cleomaceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Brassicales, comprising about 300 species in 10 genera, or about 150 species in 17 genera.Cleomaceae, Zhang Mingli (张明理)1; Gordon C. Tucker2, Harvard.edu/ref> These genera ...

with six species of

shrubs A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

and annuals, but is now considered synonymous with ''

Cleomella ''Cleomella'' is a small genus of about ten species of flowering plants. Like their relatives, the cleomes, plants of this genus have traditionally been included in the caper family Capparaceae but have recently been moved into a new family, Cleo ...

''. All six species are native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, concentrated mostly in southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and with large populations in the rest of the western

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and northwestern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The name "''Peritoma''" is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words "peri" (''περί''), meaning "about" or "around," and "toma" or "tome" (''τομή''), meaning "cut." The name "cut-around" refers to the calyx that splits around its middle as the fruit

dehisces Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...

H20120909-5531—Peritoma arborea—RPBG (9830401275)

Species

* ''

Peritoma arborea ''Cleomella arborea'' syn. ''Peritoma arborea'' (formerly '' Isomeris arborea'', syn. '' Cleome isomeris''), is a perennial shrub or bush in the spiderflower family (Cleomaceae) known by the common names bladderpod, bladderpod spiderflower and bu ...

'' ** ''Peritoma arborea var. angustata'' ** ''Peritoma arborea var. arborea'' ** ''Peritoma arborea var. globosa'' * '' Peritoma jonesii'' * '' Peritoma lutea'' * '' Peritoma platycarpa'' * '' Peritoma serrulata''

References

Cleomaceae Brassicales genera {{Brassicales-stub