"Cleome serrulata" is an annual plant growing to tall, with spirally arranged leaves. The leaves are trifoliate, diminutive teeth, and with three slender leaflets each long. The flowers are reddish-purple, pink, or white, with four petals and six long stamens. The fruit is a capsule long containing several seeds. Flowering lasts an extended period because it begins at the bottom of the stalk and works its way up. The onset of flowering and seed pods comes at the same time. Cell wall elasticity is higher in specimens that live in drier climates. The pollen is about in length with three furrows which have one pore each.