Cleomella oxystyloides

Spiny caper

Family: Cleomaceae · Type: annual · Native

Spiny caper is a California native annual found in the northern and eastern Mojave Desert in desert washes, alkaline sink scrub, and alkaline flats at elevations below 945 meters. Flowering from March to October, this plant produces straw-yellow flowers 2 to 3 millimeters long with delicate petals in small spherical clusters. Growing 50 to 150 centimeters tall with branches emerging from the base, it develops a robust structure with thick, firm leaflets arranged in groups of three. Its leaves feature elliptic leaflets 2 to 6 centimeters long, with a petiole extending 2.5 to 7 centimeters. The fruit consists of two distinctive nutlets, each 2.5 millimeters long, ranging from white to deep purple in color, topped with a stout, spine-like style 4 to 11 millimeters long.

Habitat: Desert wash, alkaline sink scrub, alkaline flats, in sandy or alkaline soil

Bloom period: Mar-Oct

Elevation: < 945 m

Bioregions: n&ampe DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.