Cleomella arborea[3][4][2] is a perennial shrub or bush in the spiderflower family (Cleomaceae) known by the common names bladderpod, bladderpod spiderflower, and burro-fat.[5][6][7][8] It has yellow flowers in bloom all months of the year.[7] It emits a foul odor to discourage herbivory from insects.[7]
A typical individual bears flowers and fruit in various stages of development.
Description
It is a densely branching shrub 0.5–2 metres (1 ft 8 in – 6 ft 7 in) high covered with tiny hairs.[5][7] Its stalked leaves are generally composed of three equal leaflets 15–45 millimetres (0.6–1.8 in) long, oval to elliptic in shape and pointed at the tip.[5][7] The plant produces abundant inflorescences at the ends of the stem branches much of the year.[7] The four sepals are fused about halfway from their base. Each flower has four bright yellow 8–14 millimetres (0.3–0.6 in) long petals, six protruding 15–25 millimetres (0.6–1.0 in) stamens with 2–2.5 millimetres (0.1–0.1 in) anthers.[5] The style is 0.9–1.2 millimetres (0.04–0.05 in) or aborts before flowering.[5] The fruit is a leathery prolate spheroid capsule 30–60 millimetres (1.2–2.4 in) long and 10–25 millimetres (0.4–1.0 in) wide on a 10–20 millimetres (0.4–0.8 in) stalk. It is smooth and green when new, aging to light brown.[5]
A typical inflorescence bears a number of flower buds at its tip, open flowers proximal to the buds, and maturing fruits which have shed their flowers below these.
In the previous genus name, Isomeris, "iso" means "equal", and "meris" means "part", referring to the stamens being of equal length.[10]
Ethnobotany
Desirable parts of the plant chosen for consumption were flowers (pictured to the left) and the pea pods (pictured to the right).
Various parts of bladderpod have been used by many tribes indigenous to California and Baja California. The seeds and flowers were eaten by the Diegueño (former Spanish name for Kumeyaay) and Kawaiisu tribes.[11][12][13] The tribes would boil the gathered plants to remove any bitter taste.[12][13] The Kawaiisu tribe also prepared the flowers by cooking them in the dirt with hot rocks overnight until flowers turned red.[13] The Cahuilla tribes prepared the pods in a similar fashion as the Kawaiisu; they cooked the pods in the ground using hot stones.[14] The Kumeyaay preferred to consume the flowers of the plant rather than the leaves or pods.[15] After cooking, they ate the flowers alone or with other ingredients, commonly eaten alongside tortillas or acorn mush.[15]
The immature pea pods of the plant resemble garden peas and are edible small quantities; they may be used similarly to capers.[16] Cooking is recommended to remove the bitter characteristics of the plant which derive from glucocapparin.[16][17]
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