Boerhavia diffusa diffusa
| Family: | Nyctaginaceae |
| Full name: | Boerhavia diffusa L. var. diffusa |
| Location: | Naukluft (2416AC) |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Rooikleefbossie |
| English common name(s): | Spiderling, Red spiderling |
| Synonym(s): | Boerhavia adscendens Willd. Boerhavia africana Lour. Boerhavia paniculata Rich. Boerhavia repens L. var. diffusa (L.) Hook.f. Commicarpus africanus (Lour.) Dandy |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Annual or perennial, prostrate, ascending or erect herb up to 1 m, sometimes with a thick taproot. Stems fleshy, woody towards the base, sparsely pubescent to densely covered with long septate hairs, the nodes swollen. Leaves broadly ovate to lanceolate, up to 5.5x5.5 cm, green above, pale green to greyish white beneath, sometimes tinged purple or spotted red, often pubescent on both surfaces and sometimes with long septate hairs, the base truncate to cuneate, the apex rounded to acute. Inflorescences both axillary and terminal, simple and aggregated, (3–)5–7(–14)-flowered cymes; branches densely pubescent to sparingly minutely puberulous, never glabrous; axillary peduncles (1–)1.5–4.5 cm long. Perianth 1.5–3.5 mm long; upper portion pale pink to purple, rarely white, 1–1.5 mm long. Stamens 2–3, slightly exserted. Ovary 0.5 mm; style slightly exserted. Anthocarp obovoid to ellipsoid, 3–4x1–1.5 mm, 5-ribbed, glandular-pubescent. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora of Tropical East Africa) Annual or perennial herb, viscid. Stems long, slender, woody at base, decumbent, diffuse or prostrate, glabrate to puberulent. Leaves opposite; petiolate, petioles (8–) 17 (–33) mm long; leaves elliptic, lanceolate, ovate, oblong, orbicular or obovate, (18–) 35 (–61) x (11–) 25 (–46) mm; apex apiculate, acuminate, rounded or obtuse; base shortly attenuate or obtuse; margins entire, sometimes undulate; green above, paler green below; glabrous with long septate hairs along the margins and scattered along the veins. Inflorescence pedunculate, primary peduncles (60–) 105 (–150) mm long, secondary peduncles (25–) 42 (–60) mm long; compound cyme; glabrate; bracteate. Flowers 2–5 in a cluster; pedicellate, pedicels 1 mm long; flower (2–) 2.1 (–3) mm long, bisexual. Perianth divided into a lower and upper part; lower part 1 mm long, green, coriaceous, constricted above ovary, elliptic-clavate, 5-ribbed, glandular hairs present, persistent; upper part (1–) 1.1 (–2) mm long, campanulate, petaloid, pink, purple or maroon; caduceus after anthesis. Stamens 2 or 3, slightly exserted, 1.5–2.5 mm long; filaments filiform, connate at base forming a short sheath around ovary; anthers dithecous. Ovary ellipsoid, 0.5 mm long, stipitate; style 1–1.5 mm long, filiform, exserted; stigma capitate. Anthocarp (3–) 3.4 (–4) x (1–) 1.4 (–2) mm; 5-ribbed, elliptic-clavate; ribs indented near apex, apex ends in a pointed tip; glandular hairs present on the ribs. (from Struwig PhD thesis) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia |
| Photographer: | AA Dreyer |
| Date of photograph: | 02 Apr 2015 |
| Camera make: | PENTAX |
| Camera model: | PENTAX K-x |
| Lens aperture: | f/5.0 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/125 s |
| ISO speed: | 100 |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
