Cleome felina L. f., Suppl. Pl. 300. 1781; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India 1: 170. 1872. Malhotra & Moorthy in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 77: 361 - 363, ff. 1 - 6. 1980. Polanisia felina (L. f.) DC., Prodr. 1: 242. 1824.

Herbs, woody, annual, prostrate-decumbent or erect, up to 50 cm high; branches radiating from base, ascending, densely appressed-strigose. Leaves apically simple or 1-foliolate, basally 3-foliolate, clothed with rigid scale-like hairs; leaflets obovate, cuneate at base, obtuse at apex, ciliate along margins; middle leaflets 15 - 25 x 7 - 16 mm; lateral leaflets 5 - 15 x 3 - 12 mm. Flowers solitary axillary, 5 - 8 mm across, pink or purple; pedicels 8 - 15 mm long, elongating to 22 mm while fruiting. Sepals linear, lanceolate, oblong, 4 - 1.5 x 0.5 - 1.5 mm, scabrid. Petals elliptic-obovate, spathulate, 8 -11 x 1.5 - 3.5 mm, pink, bristly pubescent outside. Stamens 25 - 40 (-50); filaments 3 - 4 mm long, pinkish; anthers yellow. Ovary sessile,5 - 6 mm long, 3 - 5 mm thick. Capsules flat, narrow at both ends, beaked at apex, 2 - 3 cm long, with ca 3 mm long beak; seeds many, obovoid or reniform, asymmetrical, 1.5 - 2.5 mm across, echinate, with oblique closed clefts, crested, yellowish brown.

Fl. May - Nov.; Fr. Aug. - Dec.

Distrib. India: Cultivated fields, fallow lands and rocky areas in wastelands, up to 500 m. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Endemic.

Notes. Often confused with C. chelidonii L. f., especially in vegetative state but readily distinguished when in flower and fruits. Leaflets do not exceed 3 but in C. chelidoni; they vary from 3 to 7, often to 9.