About Boerhavia diffusa L.
Boerhavia diffusa L. is a creeping, perennial, much-branched herb with stout fusiform roots. Its branches are divaricate, and the stem is purplish and thickened at the nodes. Leaves are opposite, oblique, ovate to suborbicular, rounded, with entire margins that are slightly pinkish and wavy; the lower leaf surface bears small white scales, and the leaf base is rounded. Its inflorescence consists of small umbels that form corymbose, axillary and terminal panicles. Flowers have acute bracteoles. The perianth tube is constricted above the ovary, with a funnel-shaped dark pink limb that bears 5 vertical bands on the outer surface. There are 2 or 3 slightly exserted, unequal stamens. The ovary is superior and oblique, containing 1 erect ovule, and it bears a stigma. The fruit is a rounded, 6-ribbed achene. Seeds are minute, albuminous with endosperm, and have a curved embryo. This species has small flowers, roughly 5 mm in diameter, and round pollen grains approximately 65 microns in diameter. Its small, very sticky fruits grow a few inches off the ground, positioned ideally to latch onto passing small migratory birds; this trait is thought to explain the species' very wide distribution. The exact native range of Boerhavia diffusa has not been confirmed with certainty, but the species is extremely widespread and has become naturalized in many regions. It is considered native to Africa, where it occurs in Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa (Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape provinces), Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In Asia, it is considered native to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces), India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan (Punjab, Sind, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan), the Philippines, Southern Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as the Arabian Peninsula in Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen (Socotra). In North America, it is found in Mexico and the United States (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina). It also occurs across the Caribbean in Anguilla, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, Montserrat, the Netherlands Antilles (Saba), Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and both the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. In South America it is present in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It is also found in Fiji and New Caledonia in the South Pacific. It is already recorded as occurring widely throughout India, the Pacific, and southern United States.
