Boerhavia diffusa |
Boerhavia pterocarpa |
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red spiderling, spreading hogweed |
Apache Pass spiderling, wing-fruit spiderling |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial [rarely appearing annual], sometimes slightly woody at base; taproot fusiform, woody. | Herbs, annual; taproot tapered, soft or ± woody. |
Stems | decumbent, ascending, or erect, usually profusely branched throughout, 3–10 dm, glabrous or minutely pubescent basally, glabrous or sparsely pubescent distally. |
procumbent or decumbent to ascending, sparingly branched throughout, 1–4 dm, minutely puberulent with bent hairs throughout. |
Leaves | mostly in basal 1/2 of plant; larger leaves with petiole 10–30 mm, blade broadly lanceolate, ovate, or broadly ovate, occasionally ± round, 20–60 × 15–50 mm (distal leaves smaller, often proportionally narrower), base truncate, broadly cuneate, round, or shallowly cordate, often oblique, margins sinuate, apex obtuse to round, abaxial surface paler than adaxial, glabrous or minutely puberulent, sometimes glandular, usually with few large multicellular hairs on veins, adaxial surface glabrous, rarely sparsely puberulent, neither surface punctate. |
± throughout; larger leaves with petiole 3–12 mm, blade rhombic-ovate to ovate or lanceolate, 15–25 × 9–15 mm (distal leaves smaller, proportionately narrower), adaxial surface glabrous or sparsely puberulent, abaxial surface paler than adaxial, glabrous, neither surface punctate, base round to obtuse, margins entire or slightly sinuate, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | terminal, forked ca. 3–6 times ± equally, diffuse, occasionally with sticky internodal bands; branches divergent, terminating in compact subumbellate or capitate, 2–5-flowered clusters. |
terminal or axillary, without sticky internodal bands; peduncle, 1–3 cm, bearing small capitate clusters of flowers. |
Flowers | pedicel shorter than 0.5 mm; bract at base of perianth quickly deciduous, 1, lanceolate, 0.8–1 mm; perianth purplish red to reddish pink or nearly white, campanulate beyond constriction, 1–1.5 mm; stamens 2–3, included or barely exserted. |
pedicel 0.3–0.6 mm; bracts at base of perianth quickly deciduous, lance-acuminate, 0.4–0.7 mm; perianth white to pale pinkish, campanulate distal to constriction, 1–1.5 mm; stamens 2, included or barely exserted. |
Fruits | (1–)2–5(–9) per cluster, gray-brown to brown, obpyramidal, (3–)3.5–4.5 × 1–1.2 mm (l/w: 2.8–4.1), apex broadly conic, with sparse or moderately dense stipitate-glandular hairs on ribs, less densely pubescent or glabrous in sulci [rarely entirely glabrous]; ribs 5, round, smooth; sulci ± 2–2.5 times as wide as base of ribs, not rugose, not papillate. |
2–8 per cluster, pale green to straw colored, broadly obpyramidal, base tapered to stipelike above pedicel, 2.9–3.4 × 2.8–3.2 mm (l/w: 1–1.4), apex truncate, glabrous; ribs 3–4, winglike, smooth; sulci 3–4 times as wide as base of ribs, coarsely transversely rugose, not papillate. |
2n | = 26, 52, 54, 116. |
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Boerhavia diffusa |
Boerhavia pterocarpa |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid winter–early fall [year-round]. | Flowering late summer. |
Habitat | Disturbed areas, waste places, roadsides, dry pinelands, among scrub on tropical reefs | Sandy loam to clay soils, disturbed areas, occasionally a weed in ornamental beds |
Elevation | 0-50[-1800] m (0-200[-5900] ft) | 700-1200 m (2300-3900 ft) |
Distribution |
FL; GA; SC; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Asia; Africa; Indian Ocean Islands; Pacific Islands; Australia
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AZ; Mexico (Sonora)
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Discussion | Boerhavia diffusa belongs to a pantropical complex whose distribution, because of differing taxonomic treatments, is not precisely discernable. In North America, the West Indies, and elsewhere, the complex has been treated as having one (e.g., R. W. Long and O. Lakela 1971; R. P. Wunderlin 1998) or two species (E. A. Kellogg 1988; J. K. Small 1913c; P. C. Standley 1918; C. Whitehouse 1996). In the latter situation various binomials have been used. The abrupt bend in the ribs near the fruit apex, making a broadly conic apex, seems to be a useful character for distinguishing most B. diffusa. The shape of the apex, the sparse pubescence of the fruit, the few fruits in individual terminal clusters, and the open, ± leafless inflorescence may have led R. E. Woodson Jr. and H. J. Kidd (1961) to suspect hybridization of this complex with the annual B. erecta. Hybridization is plausible (R. Spellenberg 2000), but clearly intermediate plants are not known. The leaves are sometimes used as a vegetable (C. Whitehouse 1996). Extracts from roots are used to prepare an expectorant, a diuretic, and a laxative, and in treating asthma (S. P. Ambasta 1986). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 4, p. 19. | FNA vol. 4, p. 24. |
Parent taxa | Nyctaginaceae > Boerhavia | Nyctaginaceae > Boerhavia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 3. (1753) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 17: 376. (1882) |
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