Purple Spiderling (Boerhavia purpurascens)

   

Overview, near Paradise, Chiricahua Mountains, AZ. Photograph by Wynn Anderson.

 

Upper surfaces of foliage, near Paradise, Chiricahua Mountains, AZ (left) and flowers and buds, San Francisco Mountains, Catron Co., NM. Photographs by Wynn Anderson.

 

Foliage on left, showing the character of the underside, and flowers on right. Near Paradise, Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. Photographs by Wynn Anderson.

• Common English Names: Purple Spiderling
• Common Spanish Names: Mochis
• Scientific Name: Boerhavia purpurascens (beer-HAH-vee-uh pur-pur-RAYS-sens)
• Family: Nyctaginaceae (Four-o'clock Family)
• Geographic Range: Open, sandy arid grasslands, plains and hillsides, chaparral, southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico.
• Description: Annual herb, erect or ascending, moderately branching at maturity, stems minutely pubescent to glandular pubescent; leaves mostly basal, oval, ovate oblong or lanceolate, green above, sometime same or very pale below; inflorescence terminal, few (1 to 4) unequal, strongly ascending branches without internodal bands, terminating in rounded (capitate) clusters of small whitish to pale pink, short-funneled flowers with well exserted stamens.
• Notes: This species is without sticky, viscid bands between stem nodes of the inflorescence.

Last Update: 6 Oct 2013