Boerhavia repens repens
| Family: | Nyctaginaceae |
| Full name: | Boerhavia repens L. subsp. repens |
| Location: | Namib desert (2214DD) |
| ID status: | ID not 100% certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Alena-kleefbossie |
| English common name(s): | Creeping spiderling, Alena spiderling |
| Synonym(s): | Boerhavia diffusa L. var. minor (Delile) Cufod. Boerhavia repens L. var. glabra Choisy Boerhavia repens L. var. minor Delile Boerhavia repens L. var. mollis Batt. & Trab. Boerhavia vulvariifolia Poir. |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: | Pink flowers Much-branched spreading prostrate annual herb, often mat-forming. Stems prostrate, puberulous or almost hairless. Leaves ovate to lanceolate, mostly less than 2.5 cm long, almost hairless, glandular. Inflorescences short, axillary and unbranched. Flowers usually in clusters of 2-6, white, pink or mauve. Stamens and style less than 1.2 mm long. Fruits 3-4 mm long, clavate to fusiform with a rounded apex, 5-ribbed, smooth, more or less hairless. (from Flora of Zimbabwe website) Annual herb. Stems prostrate, puberulent. Leaves with petioles (3–)5–15(–20) mm long; lamina lanceolate, elliptic, ovate or oblong, (10–)14–29(–30) × (6–)7–15(–16) mm; apex apiculate, acuminate or rounded; base obtuse; margins entire, sometimes undulate; leaf pairs at nodes anisophyllous, glabrate. Inflorescence with primary peduncles 20–24 mm long, secondary peduncles 5–20 mm long; glabrate to puberulent; 2–4 flowers per cluster; pedicels 1 mm long. Flowers 2–3 mm long; lower part of perianth 1–2 mm long, ellipsoid, 5-ribbed, glandular hairs present in grooves between ribs; upper part of perianth 1 mm long, white, pink or purple. Stamens 1 or 2, included, 0.6–0.8 mm long. Ovary 0.3–0.5 mm long; style 0.6–1.2 mm long, exserted. Anthocarp 3–4 × 1–2 mm, ellipsoidclavate, 5-ribbed, rounded at apex, glandular hairs present in area between ribs and rarely on the ribs. (from Nyctaginaceae: A taxonomic treatment for the Flora of Namibia by Struwig et al, 2015) Annual herbs, viscid. Stems long, slender, prostrate, puberulent. Leaves opposite; petiolate, petioles (3–) 9 (–20) mm long; leaves lanceolate, elliptic, ovate or oblong, (10–) 20 (–30) x (6–) 11 (–16) mm; apex apiculate, acuminate or rounded; base obtuse; margins entire, sometimes undulate; green above, paler green below; leaf pairs at the nodes differ in size with one leaf bigger than the other; glabrate. Inflorescence pedunculate, primary peduncles (20–) 22 (–24) mm long, secondary peduncles (5–) 10 (–20) mm long; compound cyme; glabrate to puberulent; bracteate. Flowers 2–4 in a cluster; pedicellate, pedicels 1 mm long; flowers (2–) 2.3(–3) mm long, bisexual. Perianth divided into a lower and upper part; lower part (1–) 1.3 (–2) mm long, green, coriaceous, constricted above the ovary, elliptic, 5-ribbed, glandular hairs present in the grooves between the ribs; upper part 1 mm long, campanulate, petaloid, pink, caduceus after anthesis. Stamens 1 or 2, included, 0.6–0.8 mm long; filaments filiform, connate at the base into short sheath around the ovary; anthers dithecous. Ovary 0.3–0.5 mm long, ellipsoid, stipitate; style 0.6–1.2 mm long, filiform, exserted; stigma capitate. Anthocarp (3–) 3.3 (–4) x (1–) 1.2 (–2) mm; 5-ribbed, rounded at apex, glandular hairs present in area between 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: | 08 Apr 2009 |
| Camera make: | Canon |
| Camera model: | PowerShot A700 |
| Lens aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Shutter speed: | 1/500 s |
| ISO speed: | - |
| Content last updated: | 18 Apr 2024 |
