Cleome Linnaeus (1753: 671) has been well-demonstrated to be a paraphyletic genus (Hall et al. 2002, Inda 2005, Hall
2008, Feodorova et al. 2010, Patchell et al. 2014), and various genera have been segregated from it and/or reestablished
based on both morphological and molecular data (Iltis & Cochrane 2007; Tucker & Vanderpool 2010; Cochrane & Iltis
2014; Iltis & Cochrane 2014; Roalson et al. 2015; Thulin & Roalson 2017; Barrett et al., in review; Roalson & Hall,
in press). These changes, initiated with floristic research undertaken for the Flora of North America (Iltis & Cochrane
2007; Tucker & Vanderpool 2010), have become consolidated as the clades derived from phylogenetic studies of
Cleomaceae have been corroborated and sustained (Roalson et al. 2015; Thulin & Roalson 2017; Barrett et al., in
review; Roalson & Hall, in review).
Cleoserrata Iltis (in Iltis & Cochrane 2007: 447) was proposed based on morphological data and the base
chromosome number n=12 (Iltis & Cochrane 2007). The recent confirmation of the monophyletic nature of the clade
Cleoserrata supports its recognition as a distinct genus (Feodorova et al. 2010, Patchell et al. 2014). This clade is
comprised of five species distributed from Mexico to Argentina (Iltis & Cochrane 2007). Only two species have been
formally named in Cleoserrata: C. serrata (Jacq.) Iltis and C. speciosa (Raf.) Iltis (Iltis & Cochrane 2007). There are
two other species described under Cleome but that belong to the Cleoserrata clade (Patchell et al. 2014) but have never
been transferred to Cleoserrata. There is also a previously recognized but never published new species that occurs in
eastern Brazil that we formally describe here.
[Annual herbs, glabrous, unarmed, with stipules diminutive or absent; leaves 3-7(-9)-foliolate, leaflets serrate-ciliate; inflorescences bracteate or not, bracts diminutive, caducous, or well-developed; flowers with showy petals, pinkish, purplish, ivory, or white.]