Scientific Family
Nyctaginaceae
Other common names
Wright's boerhavia
spiderling
Wright's spiderling
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Annual
Similar species
Boerhavia coulteri
Height
To nearly 2 feet
Riparian
No
Annual herb with a slender, spidery, upright stem branching from the base where most of the leaves grow. Stems and leaves have glands, soft hairs and are sticky. Small light purple to pink bell-shaped flowers grow in spike-like clusters at the stem tips.
Annual; very small purple to pink flower in spike-like elongated clusters; stems and leaves glandular; flower bracts persistent (remain attached), half as long as the fruit; fruits mostly 4 angled, not hairy; leaves in unequal pairs.
Habitat
Found on gravelly flats or slopes, in sandy soils among desert shrubs.
Plant Community
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
0
High elevation
4000
Flower Characteristics
Loose spike-like flower clusters grow at the ends of the slim stem branches bearing a few light purple to pink flowers, each about 1/16 inch long. Beneath each flower are pinkish leaf-like bracts about 1/8 inch long which are persistent (remain attached).
Flower color
Light purple to pink
Flower shape
Bell-shaped
Tubular
Yes
First bloom month
July
Last bloom month
September
Flower clusters
Elongated
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches long, roughly pointed, oblong (lance-like) with soft hairs, rippled edges, green above, paler and dotted with clear glands beneath. Each section of the stem between successive leaves has a sticky band around it.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Green
Leaf shape
Narrow
Leaf margin
Lobed
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves & stems
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Pyramid or club-shaped, not hairy, about 1/16 inch long and nearly as wide, with a wrinkled surface and 4 wide ribs that are sometimes winged (extend outward). The 4 to 15 fruits in each cluster are yellowish-brown (straw colored) to light-brown (tan).
Fruit type
Achene
Fruit color
Yellowish-brown to light brown