Nil Hurhure / Purple Cleome
Cleome rutidosperma
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal & more
- Flowering
- August-February
How to identify Nil Hurhure
Identify Nil Hurhure by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Small purple flowers, common weed.
- Confirm leaf type: Trifoliate.
- Confirm leaf shape: Trifoliate (three leaflets).
- Confirm flower colour: Purple/pink.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: August-February.
- In India, compare location records such as Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam and nearby regions.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Cleome rutidosperma
- Genus
- Cleome
- Family
- Capparaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Habitat
- Moist places
- Habitat type
- Wetland
- Native to
- Tropical Africa
- Distribution
- India, Tropical Africa, Caribbean, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh
- Found in India
- Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Odisha, Telangana, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura
- Flowering & fruiting
- August-February
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf type
- TrifoliaterecordedA compound leaf made of exactly three leaflets.“The leaves are trifoliate.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Leaf shape
- Trifoliate (three leaflets)recorded
Typical of the family
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Characters marked “recorded” are for Nil Hurhure itself; the rest are typical of the Capparaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Purple/pinkrecorded
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Raceme
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Nil Hurhure itself; the rest are typical of the Capparaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Bengali
- নীল হুরহুরে Nil Hurhure, নীল হুড়হুড়ে
- Malayalam
- നീലവേല
About Nil Hurhure
A member of the Capparaceae family, Purple Cleome (Cleome rutidosperma) is a herb. In India it has been recorded in Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal and 19 other states. It grows in moist places. Flowering and fruiting run from August to February.
Uses
It is grown for parts that are eaten.
Capparaceae
Caper Family
Nil Hurhure belongs to the Capparaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guides