Cleome serrulata (Rocky Mountain Bee Plant)
Capparaceae (Caper Family)

Foothills, montane.  Roadsides, disturbed areas. Summer, fall.
Denny Lake, Cortez, September 6, 2007.

Cleome serrulata can grow to two feet tall in the Four Corners area (four feet tall in some other states) with very attractive pink flowers having long exserted stamens.  Leaves (best seen in the right center of the picture) are long, narrow, and in threes.  The plant is found along roadsides and other disturbed areas and often grows in attractive clusters of many plants.

The plant was named by Frederick Pursh in 1814 from a collection made by Meriwether Lewis: "August 25, 1804, growth of the open Prairies" near Vermillion, South Dakota.  "Serrulata" means "fine toothed".

Cleome serrulata (Rocky Mountain Bee Plant)
Capparaceae (Caper Family)

Foothills, montane.  Roadsides, disturbed areas. Summer, fall.
Denny Lake, Cortez, September 6, 2007.

Click to see Cleome lutea.

Cleome serrulata (Rocky Mountain Bee Plant)
Capparaceae (Caper Family)

Foothills, montane.  Roadsides, disturbed areas. Summer, fall.
Denny Lake, Cortez, September 6, 2007.

Cleome serrulata (Rocky Mountain Bee Plant)
Capparaceae (Caper Family)

Foothills, montane.  Roadsides, disturbed areas. Summer, fall.
Denny Lake, Cortez, September 6, 2007.

Leaves are long, narrow, and in threes, quite reminiscent of Trifolium leaves of Fabaceae (Pea Family).

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Cleome serrulata