Boerhavia scandens L.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Nyctaginaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Boerhavia scandens L.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Climbing herb, 1-2 m long, pseudodichotomously branching; twigs fragile, cylindrical, glabrous, greenish. Leaves in equal pairs; blades 2-5 x 0.8-4 cm, deltoid, ovate or wide-ovate, chartaceous, puberulent on lower side, the apex obtuse to acute, the base cordate to truncate, the margins wavy, ciliolate; petioles furrowed, 0.5-2.7 cm long. Flowers pedicellate, in axillary umbels; the axes glabrous, 5-12 cm long; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate. Calyx base 1-1.5 mm long, glabrous, green, the limb funnel-shaped, white, pinkish-tinged within, 2-2.5 mm long; stamens 2. Anthocarp pedicellate, dry, short club-shaped, 12-13 mm long, 10-striate, glabrous, turning from green to straw-colored, sticky because of apical glands.

  • Distribution

    A common roadside weed. Waterlemon Bay (A2520). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; tropical to subtemperate America.

    Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America|