Southwest Desert Flora

Scientific Name: Boerhavia scandens
Common Name: Climbing Wartclub
Also Called: Climbing Spiderling, Climbing Wortclub, Wishbone Vine; (Spanish: Miona, Sonorita)
Family: Nyctaginaceae, Four O’clock Family
Synonyms: (Commicarpus scandens)
Status: Native
Duration: Perennial.
Size: Up to 5 feet or more.
Growth Form: Forb/herb, vine-like;
Leaves: Green; stems numerous and tangled, leaves petiolate, triangular to ovate, margins mildly sinuate or wavy.
Flower Color: Greenish yellow or pale yellow; flower clusters 4 to 11, flower pedicels about an inch or so long, flowering stalk (inflorescence) about 2 inches or more, an umbel, fruit often reflexed on top.
Flowering Season: March to October.
Elevation: 2,000 to 4,500 feet.

Habitat Preferences: Dry, gravelly areas, often among boulders or shrubs, roadsides.

Recorded Range: Climbing Wartclub is found in the southwest United States in AZ, NM and TX. Found mostly in southern Arizona, possibly marginally in New Mexico and Brewster and Presidio counties in Texas. It is also found in Mexico Central and South America and the West Indies.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Boerhavia scandens.

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.

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

Comments: Climbing Wartclub has the largest populations in Arizona.

Also see in Southwest Desert Flora Scarlet Spiderling, Boerhavia coccinea, Coulter's Spiderling, Boerhavia coulteri, Fivewing Spiderling, Boerhavia intermedia and Largebract Spiderling, Boerhavia wrightii.