Common Name: Tickweed

General Information

Cleome viscosa is an erect, branched, annual plant with sticky leaves; it can grow 40 - 150cm tall[].
The plant is gathered from the wild for local use as a food and medicine. The plant is occasionally cultivated in India, where it is gaining in popularity as a low-cost substitute for cumin. Its cultivation is promoted for degraded or marginal agricultural land where it can be cultivated with less difficulty than traditional crops[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

Pantropical.

Habitat

Sandy and freely draining soils in open woodland scrub and on scree slopes in dry areas[]. Woodland and grassland, and as a weed of fallow land, fields, roadsides and wasteland; at elevations up to 1,000 metres[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Annual
Height	1.50 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,000 metres in areas with a distinct dry season as well as in areas with no dry season[, ].
Prefers a light fertile soil in a warm dry sunny position with plenty of room to spread[].
The plant is considered to be a noxious weed in some areas, such as N. America[].
Plants start flowering 3 - 4 weeks after germination and the life cycle is about 3 months[].
Seed yields of 600kg per hectare have been obtained[].
The flowers are ephemeral, opening in the morning and closing in the afternoon[].
The crop is not attacked by insect pests nor damaged by wildlife because of its sticky nature and strong pungent odour[].

Edible Uses

Leaves and young shoots - cooked as a vegetable[]. Bitter[]. A sharp mustard-like flavour[]. Boiled with chillies and salt[]. The leaves and young shoots are cut into small pieces and cooked with salt and chilli, and garnished with mustard seeds, curry leaves and onions in oil[].

The pungent seed can be pickled or used as a mustard or cumin substitute in curries, pickling spices, vegetables and pulses[, , ]. A pleasant flavour[].

The seedpods are made into pickles[, , ].

The juice of the plant is used as a condiment[].

An oil obtained from the seeds is used for cooking[].

Medicinal

The plant is used as a stimulant in food in order to improve the appetite[].

The leaves are diaphoretic, rubefacient and vesicant[]. A decoction is used as an expectorant and digestive stimulant to treat conditions such as colic and dysentery[]. Chewing the leaves for a week is said to improve a woman's chances of becoming pregnant[].
The leaves are used as an external application to treat wounds and ulcers; relieve rheumatism; and to act as a counter-irritant to treat herpes infections[, ]. The juice of the leaves has been used to relieve earache[].

The seeds are anthelmintic, carminative, rubefacient, stimulant and vesicant[, ]. A decoction is used to treat rheumatism, gonorrhoea, diarrhoea and dysentery[]. In excess the seeds can cause flatulence and distension of the stomach[].
A decoction of the seeds is used as a wash to treat piles[].
The seed contains 0.1% viscosic acid and 0.04% viscosin[].

A paste of the root is applied externally in the treatment of earaches[].

Agroforestry Uses:

In areas where it occurs in abundance, such as Ghana, the plant is used as a cover plant and as a green manure[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow in situ. If seed is in short supply, sown in a tray - surface sow or only lightly cover the seed and keep moist[]. The seed usually germinates in 5 - 14 days at 25°c[]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out when large enough. Day time temperatures below 20°c depress germination but a night time fall to 20° is necessary[].

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