Studies in the Capparidaceae-VII Old World Cleomes Adventive in the New World

Abstract

There are three Old World species ofCleome that are weedy in the New World:C. viscosa (Polanisia viscosa),C. gynandra (Cleome pentaphylla, Gynandropsis gynandra, G. pentaphylla) andC. rutidosperma (C. eiliata). Their very similar New World distribution is centered in the Carribean region, with sporadic occurrences in United States and Brazilian ports. Each species is distinctive enough to be placed in its own section. SectionRutidosperma Iltis is here established for the last named species. The two most common vernacular names used in the New World forC. gynandra (and to a lesser degree also forC. viscosa) were introduced, together with the species, from Africa. Usage of these names in the New World has by now been extended by transference to several indigenous American species. The holotypes ofCleome rutidosperma DC. andCarapa procera DC. (Meliaceae), originally cited as coming from the Antilles, were apparently collections of H. Smeathmann from Sierra Leone, West Africa. In view of the very early date of Smeathmann’s collection (ca. 1786) and its early use in theProdromus, recognition of this error should aid in the interpretation of other enigmatic names or distributions of supposedly West Indian species.