Common Name: SPIDERFLOWER FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, shrub, often ill-smelling. Leaf: generally 1-palmate, generally alternate, generally petioled; stipules generally minute, often bristle-like or hairy; leaflets 0 or 3--7. Inflorescence: raceme, head, or flowers 1, expanded in fruit; bracts generally 3-parted below, simple above, or 0. Flower: generally bisexual, radial to +- bilateral; sepals generally 4, free or fused, generally persistent; petals generally 4, free, +- clawed; stamens generally 6, free, exserted, anthers generally coiling at dehiscence; ovary superior, generally on stalk-like receptacle, chamber generally 1, placentas generally 2, parietal, style 1, persistent, stigma generally minute, +- head-like. Fruit: 2 nutlets or generally capsule, septicidal; valves generally 2, deciduous, leaving septum (frame-like placentas) behind; pedicel generally +- reflexed to spreading.
Genera In Family: 17 genera, +- 150 species: widespread tropics to arid temperate. Note: Treated as Capparaceae in TJM (1993).
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Staria S. Vanderpool
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Species In Genus: 1 sp. Etymology: (F.A. Wislizenus, plant collector in southwestern United States, 1810--1889)

Common Name: JACKASS-CLOVER
Habit: Annual, short-lived perennial herb, glabrous to puberulent. Stem: much-branched from base, 0.5--24 dm. Leaf: petiole 3--25 mm; leaflets generally 3. Inflorescence: raceme, terminal, 1--3 cm, dense, in fruit 4--20 cm; pedicels 5--10 mm. Flower: radial; sepals free, 1--2 mm, +- entire, green; petals 2.5--6.3 mm, elliptic, yellow, tapered to base, claw +- 0; stamens 8--14 mm, yellow; ovary 0.3--0.6 mm, generally exserted, lobes 2, +- free, each generally 1-ovuled, style 2--5.5 mm. Fruit: 2 nutlets; valves deciduous; receptacle stalk-like, reflexed; style elongate but not spine-like. Seed: 1(3) per nutlet. Chromosomes: 2n=40.
Toxicity: TOXIC but seldom eaten. Note: Valuable honey pl.
Unabridged Reference: Vanderpool et al. 1991 Amer J Bot 78:295--937