Tarenaya aculeata(L.) Soares Neto & Roalson

WFO wfo-1000007775 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 5 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 5 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Tarenaya aculeata, photographed by Étienne Lacroix-Carignan
fig. a Étienne Lacroix-Carignan, CC0 1.0 / 2019-04-07 / obs. 36099788
Tarenaya aculeata, photographed by Ben Lewis
fig. b Ben Lewis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 112520060
Tarenaya aculeata, photographed by Elliot Greiner
fig. c Elliot Greiner, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 181380774
Tarenaya aculeata, photographed by Juan Cruzado Cortés
fig. d Juan Cruzado Cortés, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 112612862
Tarenaya aculeata, photographed by Étienne Lacroix-Carignan
fig. e Étienne Lacroix-Carignan, CC0 1.0 / obs. 36099965
Tarenaya aculeata, photographed by Ben Lewis
fig. f Ben Lewis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 257259092
Tarenaya aculeata, photographed by ritirene
fig. g ritirene, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139399306
Tarenaya aculeata, photographed by ritirene
fig. h ritirene, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139399337

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 34 botanical countries

Regions where Tarenaya aculeata is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Texas, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Windward Is. Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestTexasArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Leeward Is.Windward Is.
Native distribution of Tarenaya aculeata, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Windward Is. WIN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Texas TEX

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.

Also published as 15 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 aculeata L.
  • Cleome aculeata subsp. aculeata
  • Cleome aculeata var. aculeata
  • Cleome aculeata var. normalis Kuntze
  • Cleome affinis DC.
  • Cleome fugax Schrad.
  • Cleome gilletii De Wild.
  • Cleome hamiltoniana Miq.
  • Cleome hullettii King
  • Cleome malhadensis Mart. ex Schult. & Schult.f.
  • Cleome margaritae Buscal. & Muschl.
  • Cleome potosina B.L.Rob.
  • Cleome sinaloensis Brandegee
  • Cleome surinamensis Miq.
  • Hemiscola aculeata (L.) Raf.

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.