Compilation
Boerhavia hirsuta

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Name

Identification
Boerhavia coccinea Mill. [family NYCTAGINACEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Charles Dennis Adams, Boerhavia hirsuta Willd. [family NYCTAGINACEAE ] Verified by W. Fawcett,
Related name
  • Boerhaavia erecta
  • Boerhaavia hirsuta
  • Boerhavia coccinea
  • Boerhavia diffusa
  • Boerhaavia paniculata
  • Boerhavia erecta
  • Boerhavia hirsuta
  • Boerhavia pubescens
  • Boerhavia repens
  • Boerhavia adscendens

Flora

Entry for BOERHAVIA coccinea Mill. [family NYCTAGINACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 1, (1996) Author: CHRISTOPHER WHITEHOUSE
Names
BOERHAVIA coccinea Mill. [family NYCTAGINACEAE], Gard. Dict., ed. 8, unpaginated (Boerhaavia no. 4) (1768); Troupin, Fl. Rwanda 1: 208 (1978); Vollesen in Opera Bot. 59: 22 (1980); Hepper et al., Annot. Check-list Pl. Mt. Kulal: 42 (1981); Stannard in F.Z. 9(1): 22 (1988); Thulin, Fl. Somalia 1: 170 (1993); U.K.W.F., ed. 2: 83, t. 19 (1994); Heine & Legère, Swahili Pl.: 174 (1995). Neotype, chosen by Hewson & Meikle in Fl. Australia 4: 318 (1984): Jamaica, 1730, Houston (BM, neo.!)
BOERHAVIA hirsuta Jacq. [family NYCTAGINACEAE], Hort. Vindob. 1: 3, t. 7 (1770), nom. superfl. Based on same description as B. coccinea
BOERHAVIA caribaea Jacq. [family NYCTAGINACEAE], Obs. Bot. 4: 5, t. 84 (1771). Type: Martinique; t. 84 in Obs. Bot (1771)
BOERHAVIA viscosa Lag. & Rodr. [family NYCTAGINACEAE], in Anal. Cienc. Nat. 4: 256 (1801). Type: originally from Peru, flowered during June and July in Real Jardin Botanico de Madrid (M, holo.)
BOERHAVIA viscosa Jacq. [family NYCTAGINACEAE], Fragm. Bot.: 41, t. 46/2 (1804­), nom. illegit., non Lag. & Rodr. Type: t. 46/2 in Jacq., Fragm. Bot. (1804)
BOERHAVIA repens Choisy var. viscosa [family NYCTAGINACEAE], in DC., Prodr. 13(2): 453 (1849); Baker & C.H. Wright in F.T.A. 6(1): 5 (1909); F.P.S. 1: 152 (1950). Type: Egypt or Arabia, “Thal Arbain”, May, Rüppell (FR, holo.)
BOERHAVIA diffusa Heimerl var. hirsuta [family NYCTAGINACEAE], in E.J. 10: 9 (1888). Type: South Africa, Cape Province, Kuruman, Marloth 1102 (B, holo., PRE, iso.)
BOERHAVIA diffusa (Lag. & Rodr.) Heimerl var. viscosa [family NYCTAGINACEAE], in Beitr. Syst. Nyct.: 27 (1897); Codd in Bothalia 9: 118 (1966)
BOERHAVIA repens var. diffusa [family NYCTAGINACEAE], [sensu Baker & C.H. Wright in F.T.A. 6(1): 5 (1909), pro parte, excl. syn.]
BOERHAVIA bracteata Cooke [family NYCTAGINACEAE], in K.B. 1909: 421 (1909). Lectotype, chosen here: South Africa, Transvaal, Avoca near Barberton, Galpin 1240 (K, lecto.!, PRE, isolecto.)
BOERHAVIA diffusa [family NYCTAGINACEAE], [sensu F.W.T.A. 1: 152 (1927); U.O.P.Z.: 148 (1949), non L.]
BOERHAVIA coccinea (Lag. & Rodr.) Moscoso var. viscosa [family NYCTAGINACEAE], in Cat. Fl. Doming. 1: 180 (1943); Meikle in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 1: 178 (1954); Vollesen in Opera Bot. 59: 23 (1980)
BOERHAVIA coccinea var. α [family NYCTAGINACEAE], sensu Meikle in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 1: 178, fig. 66 (1954)
Information
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 5.5×5.5 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, 3–4×1–1.5 mm., 5-ribbed, glandular-pubescent. Fig. 1/6.
Range
DISTR. U 1; K 1–7; T 1–8; Z; P pantropical weed
Altitude range
0–1400 m.
Distribution
UGANDA Karamoja District Mt. Debasien, Napianyenya [Napyenya], rest camp compound, Jan. 1936, Eggeling 2556! & Kangole, 22 May 1940, A.S. Thomas 3465!;KENYA Turkana District Lake Turkana [Rudolph], Central I., 17 May 1953, Padwa 170!;TANZANIA Pangani District Bushiri Estate, 6 Sept. 1950, Faulkner 677!;UGANDA Bunyoro District Lake Albert, Kibiro [Kibero], 19 Feb. 1906, Bagshawe 904!KENYA Machakos District Kibwezi Forest, 15 Apr. 1974, R.B. & A.J. Faden 74/430!;KENYA Kilifi District Malindi, Oct. 1951, Tweedie 933!TANZANIA Buha District Kakombe valley, 20 Dec. 1963, Pirozynski 40!;TANZANIA Iringa District Ruaha National Park, Mbagi Camp, near to the Mwagusi R., 24 Jan. 1966, Richards 21038!;TANZANIA Zanzibar Massazini, 10 Sept. 1959, Faulkner 2357!
Notes
B. coccinea is a highly variable species that appears to be intermediate between B. repens and B. diffusa. In some forms the upper leaves can become reduced so that the plant appears to have a single large terminal paniculate inflorescence as in B. diffusa. The forms covered with long septate hairs have frequently been distinguished as B. coccinea var. viscosa but there seems to be continuous variation between them and the pubescent forms. One particularly distinct form is found in sand dunes along the north Kenyan coast (Kui I., Rawlins 118 & 119 & Tenewi I., Frazier 2214 & 2221) and in Somalia around Mogadishu; it is prostrate, densely glandular-pubescent all over, with ovate to subcircular leaves, 0.8–2.4×0.6–2.1 cm., and perianth 3.5–5 mm. long. Thulin suggested that this coastal form may well merit taxonomic segregation even at species level. See also B. sp. A, p. 7. The taxonomy of the whole B. coccinea complex needs to be clarified.

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