Spiderling
Boerhavia coccinea
Photographed in Phoenix, Arizona, USA in August 2007. This photo is also hosted at Wikimedia. Enlarged views of flowers at upper left.
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FLOWERS: Four to ten small flowers are grouped together in a head-like
cluster presenting a sphere of scarlet. Like the other spiderlings the inflorescence branches repeatedly creating an intricate web of stems.
RANGE: Common
weed on vacant city lots and road sides in mostly disturbed habitats in the
Sonoran Desert. Can also be found growing within major washes and on rocky
slopes.
LEAVES: Opposite leaves are larger than other Sonoran Desert Boerhavias, unequal
in size, and the nodes are enlarged. Note the reddish tint to leaf
margins.
SEEDS: In fruit the peduncles elongate and the arrangement is umbellate. Small seeds inside sticky, club-shaped capsules.
SUMMER ANNUAL/PERENNIAL: Appears after warms season rains growing rather close to the soil.
Robust plants may spread out more than a meter in diameter.
A stout taproot may survive for that one season if adequate moisture persists.
UNARMED.
By late summer the caterpillars of the of the White-lined Sphinx are often found on this and related plants.
