Boerhavia coulteri, Coulter's Spiderling, Southwest Desert Flora

Boerhavia coulteri, Coulter's Spiderling

Scientific Name: Boerhavia coulteri
Common Name: Coulter's Spiderling
Also Called: Coulter Spiderling, Spiderling; (Spanish: Mochis, Juaninipili)
Family: Nyctaginaceae, Four O’clock Family
Synonyms: (Senkenbergia coulteri, Boerhavia coulteri var. palmeri, Boerhavia spicata var. palmeri)
Status: Native
Duration: Annual or perennial.
Size: Up to 2 ½ feet or more, trailing 2 feet more or less.
Growth Form: Forb/herb; stems erect to decumbent-ascending, few or many branches, sticky resin glands near the base.
Leaves: Green, most leaves basal, tops of leaf brighter green, bottoms paler, basal leaves larger, shape variable, lanceolate, ovate, ovoid, distal leaves shorter and narrower, leaf margins often wavy or rippled (sinuate).
Flower Color: White, pale pink; flowers from axils or terminal, inflorescence a sticky spike-like raceme flower clusters, fruits glabrous in small clusters.
Flowering Season: September to November in California.
Elevation: 500 to 5,000 feet, below 3,500 feet in California.

Habitat Preferences: Gravelly hillsides, washes.

Recorded Range: Coulter's Spiderling is found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In the United States it occurs in AZ. CA. and NM. in the Sonoran Desert.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Boerhavia coulteri.

U.S. Weed Information: No information available.
Invasive/Noxious Weed Information: No information available.
Wetland Indicator: No information available.
Threatened/Endangered Information: No information available.

Genus Information: 21 species in Boerhavia in the southern half of the United States. 12 species in Arizona and Texas, 6 species in California, 11 species in New Mexico.

The Plant List includes 243 scientific plant names of species rank for the genus Boerhavia. Of these 105 are accepted species names.

(Boerhavia coulteri was previously split into 2 varieties; Boerhavia coulteri var. palmeri and Boerhavia spicata var. palmeri which are now reduced to synonyms.)

Comments: One of the most common and widely distributed species of Boerhavia in Arizona.

Also see in Southwest Desert Flora Scarlet Spiderling, Boerhavia coccinea, Fivewing Spiderling, Boerhavia intermedia, Climbing Wartclub, Boerhavia scandens and Largebract Spiderling, Boerhavia wrightii.