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Boerhavia erecta

(Erect Spiderling)

Overview

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Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Chinese:

Zhi Li Huang Xi Xin

Common Names in English:

Erect Spiderling, Erect Tar Vine

Common Names in Portuguese:

Falso-Pega-Pinto

Description

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Family Nyctaginaceae

Herbs, shrubs , trees , or sometimes spiny vines . Leaves opposite, alternate, or whorled ; stipules absent; petiole usually present, well defined; leaf blade simple , herbaceous or slightly fleshy , margin entire. Inflorescences mostly terminal , less often axillary , of cymes, umbels, or verticils , sometimes 1-flowered or fasciculate, often grouped into panicles; bracts often inconspicuous, sometimes forming calyxlike involucre, or large and brightly colored . Flowers bisexual , rarely unisexual or polygamous, actinomorphic . Perianth constricted beyond the ovary, base persistent , closely enclosing ovary which appears inferior, limb petaloid beyond constriction, tubular , funnelform , or campanulate , apex 5-10-lobed, lobes plicate or valvate in bud, persistent or caducous . Disk absent. Stamens (1-) 3-5(-many), hypogynous, free or connate at base, involute in bud; anthers 2-loculed, dehiscence longitudinal . Ovary superior, 1-loculed; ovule 1. Style 1; stigma globose . Fruit an achenelike anthocarp enclosed by persistent perianth, ribbed or winged , often glandular . Seed 1; endosperm present; embryo straight or curved .

About 30 genera and 300 species: tropics and subtropics, mainly in tropical America; six genera (two introduced ) and 13 species (one endemic, three introduced) in China.[1]

Genus Boerhavia

Herbs, annual or perennial , sometimes suffrutescent at base , slender, often glandular , glabrous , or pubescent , from slender and soft or stout, ± woody, and ropelike or fusiform taproot . Stems procumbent , decumbent , ascending , or erect , unarmed , with or without glutinous bands on internodes. Leaves petiolate , pairs unequal in size in each pair; blade thin or thick and slightly fleshy , base symmetric to asymmetric . Inflorescences terminal and axillary , pedunculate or not clearly pedunculate because of repeated branching from distal axils, diffuse , and then usually widely cymose , paniculate , or thyrsiform, terminal portions cymose, racemose, spicate , subumbellate, umbellate , subcapitate , or capitate, rarely borne singly; bracts ± persistent and not accrescent , or deciduous, 1-3 beneath each flower, distinct , lanceolate, minute, thin, translucent . Flowers bisexual , chasmogamous ; perianth radially symmetric or slightly bilaterally symmetric, campanulate or widely funnelform , constricted beyond ovaries, tube abruptly expanded to (4-) 5-lobed limb; stamens 2-8, included or exserted; styles at or extending beyond anthers ; stigmas peltate. Fruits fusiform, clavate , oblong-clavate, obovoid , or obpyramidal , stiffly coriaceous ; ribs (3-) 5, rounded , angular, or winglike, smooth , glabrous or glandular-pubescent ; sulci smooth or rugose , epidermal surface smooth, papillate , or minutely pubescent.

Species ca. 40: warm-temperate and tropical regions worldwide.

Numerous authors , particularly those of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, "corrected" to Boerhaavia Linneaus intentional Latinization (Boerhavia) of Boerhaave's name . Boerhavia sometimes includes Anulocaulis, Commicarpus, and Cyphomeris (F. R. Fosberg 1978). At the species level, there is variation that is often difficult to treat taxonomically, especially among annuals of the Sonoran Desert and the pantropical B . diffusa-B. coccinea complex . Many species probably are highly autogamous (R. Spellenberg 2000). P. C. Standleys publications on the family in North America (1909, 1911, 1918) have been the basis for much of the subsequent floristic efforts , with all authors taking a more conservative approach. Nevertheless, careful examination of Boerhavia fruits indicates that some of the entities that Standley proposed represent distinct taxa. For most species in the flora , identification requires mature fruits. In this treatment, the range of ratios of length to width (l/w) of individual fruits of a species is given as a means to relate shape . Fruits from a number of Boerhavia species exude mucilage when wet (J. M. Willson and R. Spellenberg 1977).

[2]

Physical Description

Species Boerhavia erecta

Stems usually erect , sometimes decumbent , profusely branched primarily distally, 2-12 dm, minutely puberulent with bent hairs basally, usually glabrous , rarely sparsely puberulent distally. Leaves mostly in basal 1/2 of plant; larger leaves with petiole 6-40(-55) mm, blade broadly rhombic-ovate, triangular-ovate, ovate , oval , or lanceolate, 20-50(-80) × 10-45 mm (distal leaves smaller, proportionately narrower), adaxial surface usually glabrous, sometimes minutely puberulent, usually minutely punctate , abaxial surface slightly paler than adaxial, usually glabrous, sometimes minutely puberulent, usually punctate with small patches of small brown cells , base obtuse to round , margins entire or sinuate , apex usually acute, less often obtuse or rounded . Inflorescences terminal , forked ca. 4-6 times ± evenly, diffuse , usually with sticky internodal bands ; branches strongly ascending , terminating in irregular umbellate or subracemose clusters of flowers, not all pedicels attaching at same point (flowers occasionally borne singly). Flowers: pedicel (0-) 0.3-2.5(-5) mm; bracts at base of perianth deciduous, usually 2, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 0.5-1 mm, apex often acuminate; perianth whitish, usually tinged with pink or purple [bright pink] between lobes and in tube , campanulate beyond constriction, 1-1.5 mm; stamens 2-4, slightly exserted. Fruits 1-11 per cluster, pale greenish to straw colored or tan, narrowly obconic, (2.7-) 3-3.5[-4] × 1.2-1.5 mm (l/w: (2-) 2.3-3.2), apex truncate or broadly low conic, glabrous; ribs 5, acute, slightly rugose adjacent to sulci; sulci 0.5-1 times as wide as base of ribs, slightly to prominently coarsely transverse rugose, not papillate . [source]

Boerhavia erecta occasionally forms mixed populations with B . intermedia without apparent intergradation. Rarely, some specimens seem to combine features of either species, particularly with regard to inflorescence structure. This is especially so in Sonora, Mexico, and in parts of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. The two species bloom simultaneously and are visited by small insects. Given the presumed close relationship and weedy habitats of each, hybridization seems possible. Usually, the two species can be distinguished by the differences in fruit length , the appearance of a crownlike apex of the nearly mature fruits of B. erecta (apex of ridges slightly expanded, apex of fruit slightly conic), and the more precisely constructed terminal umbels of B. intermedia. Both species, particularly B. intermedia, may produce entire inflorescences with branches terminating in single flowers. R. E. Woodson Jr. and H. J. Kidd (1961) suggested that B. erecta hybridizes with the perennial B. diffusa. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: June, July, August. • Flower Color: near white, pale pink, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: under 6" tall.

Habitat

Disturbed areas, gardens, road and railroad rights-of-way, stream beds ; 0-1700 m [probably much higher in tropics][3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 4,653 meters (0 to 15,266 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Annual , Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9a. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Elliott Publication : Sketch Bot. S. Carolina [Elliott] 1: 41 1816 [26 Sep 1816]

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Boerhavia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 19 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

B. anisophylla (Wine Spiderling) · B. capitata (Scarlet Muskflower) · B. coccinea (Red Boerhaavia) · B. coulteri (Coulter Spiderling) · B. diffusa (Red Spiderling) · B. erecta (Erect Spiderling) · B. gracillima (Bush Spiderling) · B. herbstii (Alena) · B. intermedia (Five-Wing Spiderling) · B. linearifolia (Narrow-Leaf Spiderling) · B. mathisiana (Mathis Spiderling) · B. megaptera (Annual Spiderling) · B. pterocarpa (Apache Pass Spiderling) · B. purpurascens (Purple Spiderling) · B. repens (Anena) · B. scandens (Climbing Spiderling) · B. spicata (Creeping Spiderling) · B. triquetra (Slender Spiderling) · B. wrightii (Large Bract Spiderling)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 17, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Dequan Lu & Michael G. Gilbert "Nyctaginaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 430. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Richard W. Spellenberg "Boerhavia". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 14, 15, 17, 1. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Boerhavia erecta". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 19, 20, 22, 2. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 354.890 meters (1,164.337 feet), Standard Deviation = 722.410 based on 516 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012