Boerhavia diffusa
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Boerhavia diffusa |
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Boerhavia diffusa is a species of plant in the genus Boerhaavia . Within the species, the individual plants vary greatly, so that they can hardly be classified and there were a large number of initial descriptions , which led to a large number of synonyms for the species name.
description
Boerhavia diffusa is a perennial , herbaceous plant that reaches heights of between 40 and 120 centimeters. The stem axis is prostrate or ascending. It is slender and sticky with fine hairs. The leaves are opposite and stalked on petioles one to four centimeters long. The leaf blade is rounded or rhombic-oval at the base and then tapers to a lanceolate shape. The tip is rounded or sharp. The blade is wavy and between two and six inches long and two to five inches wide. It is finely hairy or bald and at the base matt green towards the tip merging into yellowish without pits.
The inflorescences are loose, multi-flowered panicles . Bracts are present and finely hairy or glabrous. The flowers sit in tightly packed clusters ( glomerulus ) on the inflorescence axis. The inflorescence is tubular (crown tube) and between 0.7 and one millimeter long and less than 0.5 millimeters wide. The red to purple, rarely white, petals are covered with tiny glands. The three stamens protrude slightly from the flower envelope.
The fruits are, as with the miracle flower plants (Nyctaginaceae) typical, anthocarpi ; in them, the pericarp encloses the ovary tightly and thus becomes part of it. The fruits are egg-shaped to flat-ellipsoidal, blunt to beak-shaped and glandular. They are three to four millimeters long and about one millimeter wide.
distribution
The species is widespread in the Paleotropic . It is found in the tropics and parts of the subtropics of America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
Synonyms and hybrids
As already described in the introduction, the individual plants vary greatly within the species, so that they can hardly be classified and there were a large number of initial descriptions , which led to a large number of synonyms for the species name. Whether some of these are its own species or subspecies is controversial. The most commonly used synonyms are listed here: Boerhavia coccinea Mill. , Boerhavia caribaea Jacq. , Boerhavia diandra Aubl. , Boerhavia paniculata A.Rich. , Boerhavia polymorpha A.Rich. , Boerhavia hirsuta Willd. , Boerhavia adscendens Willd. , Boerhavia decumbens Vahl , Boerhavia laxa Pers. , Boerhavia squamata Raf. , Boerhavia sonorae Rose , Boerhavia viscosa Lag. Et Rodr. , Boerhavia ramulosa M.E. Jones and Boerhavia ixodes Standley . However, this list is by no means complete.
In addition, the species regularly hybridizes with Boerhavia erecta to form natural hybrids , which further blurs the species' boundaries.
literature
- James A. Duke: Flora of Panama. Part IV. Fascicle IV . In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden . tape 48 , no. 1 , February 1961, p. 54 f ., doi : 10.2307 / 2394907 .
