Cleome serrulata
Cleome serrulata (syn. Peritoma serrulata), commonly known as Rocky Mountain beeplant/beeweed, stinking-clover,bee spider-flower,skunk weed,Navajo spinach, and guaco is an annual plant in the genus Cleome. 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 western and central United States. This plant has often been used for food, to make dyes for paint, and as a treatment in traditional medicine.
Taxonomy
In 1814, Frederick Traugott Pursh described this species in the first volume of Flora Americae Septentrionalis, based upon specimens collected by the Lewis and Clark Expedition near the Vermillion River in South Dakota.
In the first volume of Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis in 1824, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle moved this species to a genus which he named Peritoma (replacing the earlier illegitimate name Atalanta Nuttall), and calling the species Peritoma serrulatum.
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