Rocky Mountain Beeplant
Cleomella serrulata
Native American tribes, such as the Navajo and Ancestral Puebloans, boiled this plant down to create a concentrated black paste used to paint intricate designs on pottery.
- Scientific name
- Cleomella serrulata
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Brassicales › Cleomaceae › Cleomella
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Dry prairies, plains, foothills, roadsides, and disturbed sandy soils.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis, absorbing water and minerals from the soil).
- Range
- North America, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains
- Size
- 1 to 5 feet (30 to 150 cm) tall
- Lifespan
- 1 year (annual)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat conversion to intensive agriculture, herbicide application, and displacement by invasive weed species.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. You can safely approach and photograph this plant at any distance. Avoid trampling the surrounding vegetation. Wash hands after handling to remove sticky residue and its characteristic musky odor.
Cleomella serrulata (syns. Cleome serrulata and Peritoma serrulata ), commonly known as Rocky Mountain beeplant/beeweed , stinking-clover , bee spider-flower , skunk weed , Navajo spinach , and guaco , is a species of annual plant in the genus Cleomella . Many species of insects are attracted to it, especially bees, which helps in the pollination of nearby plants. It is native to southern Canada and the western and central United States. The plant has often been used for food, to make dyes for...
Photo: Mike Duran, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/5ddd5140-e98d-4ee4-9af8-ba6305f4dbf7.md