Cleome angustifoliaForssk.

WFO wfo-0000611124 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cleome angustifolia, photographed by Antoinette Eyssell Knox
fig. a Antoinette Eyssell Knox, CC BY-SA 4.0 / 2022-01-06 / obs. 175691910
Cleome angustifolia, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. b Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 15982655
Cleome angustifolia, photographed by James Deacon
fig. c James Deacon, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 105573538
Cleome angustifolia, photographed by Ricus Nel
fig. d Ricus Nel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178983429
Cleome angustifolia, photographed by rosshawkins
fig. e rosshawkins, CC0 1.0 / obs. 177999720
Cleome angustifolia, photographed by leandra-k_89
fig. f leandra-k_89, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 117075362
Cleome angustifolia, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. g Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 59969453
Cleome angustifolia, photographed by Noeleen du Toit
fig. h Noeleen du Toit, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 178309910

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 18 botanical countries

Regions where Cleome angustifolia is native: Angola, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Djibouti, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Northern Provinces, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Yemen, India AngolaBotswanaCape ProvincesDjiboutiEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNorthern ProvincesSudan-South SudanTanzaniaZimbabweYemenIndia
Native distribution of Cleome angustifolia, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Botswana BOT
Cape Provinces CPP
Djibouti DJI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Northern Provinces TVL
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Zimbabwe ZIM
Yemen YEM ASIA-TEMPERATE
India IND ASIA-TROPICAL

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 275 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 4.4 °C 10.1 °C 13.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 29.1 °C 31.5 °C 34.7 °C
Annual rainfall 82 mm 456 mm 673 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 1 mm 16 mm 37 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 275 research-grade observations of Cleome angustifolia that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 26 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cleome angustifolia var. namaquensis Kers
  • Cleome diandra Burch.
  • Cleome diandra var. delagoensis Kuntze
  • Cleome diandra var. pteropoda Welw. ex Oliv.
  • Cleome didynarna Hochst. ex Oliv.
  • Cleome filifolia Vahl
  • Cleome hochstetteri (Eichler) Cufod.
  • Cleome petersiana (Klotzsch) Briq.
  • Coalisia angustifolia (Forssk.) Raf.
  • Coalisina angustifolia subsp. petersiana (Klotzsch) Roalson & J.C.Hall
  • Coalisina angustifolia var. damarensis (Kers) Roalson & J.C.Hall
  • Coalisina angustifolia var. diandra (Burch.) Roalson & J.C.Hall
  • Coalisina angustifolia var. namaquensis (Kers) Roalson & J.C.Hall
  • Coalisina angustifolia var. pteropoda (Welw. ex Oliv.) Roalson & J.C.Hall
  • Dianthera abyssinica Schweinf.
  • Dianthera burchelliana Klotzsch ex Sond.
  • Dianthera burchelliana Klotzsch
  • Dianthera hochstetteri Eichler
  • Dianthera petersiana Klotzsch
  • Dianthera petersiana Oliv.
  • Dianthera petersii Klotzsch
  • Polanisia diandra (Burch.) T.Durand & Schinz
  • Polanisia dianthera DC.
  • Polanisia dianthera var. delagoensis (Kuntze) Schinz & Junod

and 2 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.