Key to Boerhavia

View taxon page for Boerhavia

(For a list of species in Boerhavia, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Perianth red to purple (pale red); 

perennial 

Completing life cycle (germination through death) in more than two years or growing seasons, generally non-woody (at least above ground) to woody; includes perennial herbs as well as subshrubs to trees; the abbreviation 'per' only refers to perennial herb, not to the word 'perennial' alone.

 herb; fruit glandular hairy

2. Branches hairy, generally glandular; leaves throughout plant ..... B. coccinea

2' Branches ± glabrous; leaves ± in lower 1/2 of plant ..... B. diffusa

1' Perianth pale pink to white; annual; fruit glabrous

3. Inflorescence generally ending in umbels of 3–6(8) flowers or flowers 1 or paired ..... B. triquetra var. intermedia

3' Inflorescence ending in spike-like 

raceme 

In flowering plants excluding Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, and some other groups, an unbranched inflorescence in which the flowers are borne on pedicels and nearly always open from the bottom to the top of the inflorescence. 2. In Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, and some other groups, a raceme-like inflorescence is one in which the inflorescence units (e.g., heads in Asteraceae; spikelets in Cyperaceae and Poaceae), instead of individual flowers, are stalked and attached directly to the main axis of the inflorescence, not to branches, and in which floral development may or may not proceed as in 1.

4. Bracts ± persistent, ± = fruit; fruit ribs generally 4; stem glandular-hairy ..... B. wrightii

4' Bracts deciduous, << fruit; fruit ribs generally 5; stem short-hairy ..... B. coulteri

5. Stems bright green, strongly 

ascending 

Curving or angling upward from base, or about 30-60 degrees less than vertical or away from axis of attachment.

to 

erect 

Upright; vertically oriented.

; perianth pale pink; fruits often overlapping 50–100% of their lengths, 2.5–3.6 mm, tips generally bluntly conic to round-truncate ..... var. coulteri

5' Stems ± purple, 

decumbent 

lying mostly flat on the ground but with tips curving up.

to ascending; perianth pink; fruits overlapping 1–50% of their lengths or generally well spaced, 2–2.4+ mm, tips generally rounded ..... var. palmeri

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