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Common Name: Tickweed

General Information

Cleome viscosa is an annual plant that can grow up to 1.50 metres tall.
It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine

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[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Annual
Height	1.50 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Prefers a light fertile soil in a warm dry sunny position with plenty of room to spread[].
A frost tender plant, it can be grown as a summer annual in Britain[].

Edible Uses

Leaves and young shoots - cooked as a vegetable[]. A sharp mustard-like flavour[].
The pungent seed can be pickled or used as a mustard substitute in curries[, ].
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 leaves are diaphoretic, rubefacient and vesicant[]. They are used as an external application to wounds and ulcers[].
The juice of the leaves has been used to relieve earache[].
The seeds are anthelmintic, carminative, rubefacient, stimulant and vesicant[, ]. The seed contains 0.1% viscosic acid and 0.04% viscosin[].
A paste of the root is applied externally in the treatment of earaches[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - surface sow or only lightly cover the seed in spring in a greenhouse[]. 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 in late spring. Day time temperatures below 20°c depress germination but a night time fall to 20° is necessary[].