Boerhavia diffusa
(red spiderling)

Preferred Common Name

• red spiderling

Other Scientific Names

• Axia cochinchinensis Lour.
• Boerhavia adscendens Willd.
• Boerhavia caespitosa Ridl.
• Boerhavia ciliatobracteata Heimerl
• Boerhavia coccinea var. leiocarpa (Heimerl) Standl.
• Boerhavia coccinea var. paniculata Moscoso
• Boerhavia friesii Heimerl
• Boerhavia paniculata Rich.
• Boerhavia paniculata f. esetosa Heimerl
• Boerhavia paniculata var. guaranitica Heimerl
• Boerhavia paniculata var. leiocarpa (Heimerl) Heimerl
• Boerhavia procumbens Banks ex Roxb
• Boerhavia repanda Wall.
• Boerhavia repens var. diffusa (L.) Hook. f.

International Common Names

• English: hogweed; pigweed; spreading hogweed
• Spanish: escorian morado (Guatemala); hierba de cabro (Guatemala); hierba de puerco; mata pavo (Cuba); moradilla (Guatemala); pegajera (Bolivia); pega-pollo (Dominican Republic); raíz china (Bolivia); rodilla de pollo (Colombia); tripa de pollo (Colombia)
• French: boerhaavia à fleurs rouges
• Arabic: handakuki; sabaka
• Chinese: huang xi xin
• Portuguese: agarra-pinto; amarra-pinto; celidônia

Local Common Names

• Persian Gulf States: devasapat
• Brazil: erva-tostao; pega-pinto
• Caribbean: ipeca
• Dominican Republic: pega pollo cimarron; toston; yerba de puerco
• Haiti: liane manger cochon; manger cochon
• India: bashkhira; punarnava; sant
• Sri Lanka: chattaranai; kancharanai; mukurattai

EPPO code

• BOEDI (Boerhavia diffusa)
• BOERE (Boerhavia repanda)

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Caryophyllales
•                         Family: Nyctaginaceae
•                             Genus: Boerhavia
•                                 Species: Boerhavia diffusa

Boerhavia diffusa belongs to the Tribe Nyctagineae of the Nyctagineaceae family (Stevens, 2015). Mukherjee (1984) has revised Indian Nyctaginaceae members. Bramadhayalaselvam (1991) made revisionary studies on the South Indian species of Nyctaginaceae. The spelling Boerhaavia has been widely used for this genus, but most recent texts use Boerhavia. 

Taxonomy of the genus is complex and interpreted in various ways. Some authors treat B. repens L. and B. diffusa L. as synonyms. Singh (1988) and Stemmerik (1964) conclude that there is too much variation to distinguish these two (and B. procumbens) and all three are treated as conspecific in Indian floras. B. diffusa is certainly a highly variable plant and Theodore Cooke (1958) refers to it as a 'protean' plant, changing its appearance according to soil and climate. Others (e.g. Hutchinson and Dalziel, 1954) distinguish B. repens as a separate species with more prostrate stems, smaller flowers and smaller leaves than B. diffusa (= B. repens L. var. diffusa (L.) Hook. f.). Matters are also confused because the name B. diffusa has been misapplied by some authors to the closely related B. coccinea Mill. which is also a very widely distributed weed. In Holm et al. (1979)B. coccinea is treated as a synonym of B. diffusa. See Similarities to Other Species for means of separating these two species.

The genus Boerhavia can be recognised by its erect or diffused herbaceous habit, funnel-shaped, plicate limb of the perianth and paniculate inflorescence.

Prostrate or ascending herb, to 50 cm long, many-branched from a taproot; twigs cylindrical, glabrous.  Leaves in unequal pairs; blades 1.2-5.5 × 1.3-4 cm, ovate to wide ovate, chartaceous, sparsely pilose, especially on veins, lower side glaucous, the apex rounded to acute, shortly apiculate, the base rounded, truncate to nearly cordate, the margins wavy, ciliate; petioles pilose, 0.5-3 cm long.  Flowers nearly sessile, 2-4(-7) in terminal, subcapitate clusters on axillary racemes or terminal panicles, 10-30 cm long; the axes glabrous; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate.  Calyx base 0.5-1.5 mm, puberulent, the limb funnel-shaped, red or violet, 0.6-1 mm long; stamens usually 2, slightly exserted.  Anthocarp sessile, green, glandular pubescent, sticky, short club-shaped, 2-2.5 mm long, 5-ribbed.

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• acid
• neutral

Soil texture

• light
• medium

The small fruit of B. diffusa are very sticky and grow close to the ground. They can therefore attach to human clothing or to animals and birds, enabling wide dispersal. Because this species grows as a weed, its seeds can also be dispersed accidentally as a contaminant (Wagner et al., 1999; Muzila, 2006; PIER, 2015).

B. diffusa is reported as one of the predominant weeds of cassava in Venezuela (Quiñones and Moreno, 1995). It is also recorded associated with Xylella fastidiosa in grape in Venezuela (Hernández-Garboza and Ochoa-Corona, 1994). It is the most common principal weed of date palm orchards in India (Josan et al., 1993) and is one of the most problematic weeds in mustard in India (Rajput et al., 1993), where it is also recorded as a weed in tobacco, pearl millet and groundnut (Singh and Prasad, 1987; Murthy et al., 1991; Singh and Prasad, 1991; Kennedy et al., 1992). In Nigeria it is also recorded as a main weed in upland rice (Kehinde and Fagade, 1986). In Hawaii this species is a common weed spreading rapidly principally in coastal areas, disturbed places, and disturbed forests (Wagner et al., 1999).

B. diffusa indirectly limits crop production by serving as an alternative host to crop pests; the weed provides food, shelter and reproductive sites for insects, nematodes and pathogens (Kumar, 1990). B. diffusa is recorded as an alternative host for Aproaerema modicella (groundnut leaf miner) (Kennedy et al., 1992). Yield losses attributed to these factors are difficult to determine.

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Is a habitat generalist
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Highly mobile locally
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Long lived
• Fast growing

• Damaged ecosystem services
• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Modification of successional patterns
• Monoculture formation
• Negatively impacts agriculture
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - smothering
• Pest and disease transmission
• Rapid growth

• Highly likely to be transported internationally accidentally
• Difficult to identify/detect as a commodity contaminant

The whole plant or its specific parts (leaves, stem, and roots) have a long history of use by indigenous and tribal people in India. The leaves of B. diffusa are eaten as a pot-herb and the root is employed in medicine to cure diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera (Kirtikar and Basu, 1975). Aqueous extracts of B. diffusa possess strong antiviral activity (Nagarajan et al., 1990). The roots contain a quinolone alkaloid which is the main medicinally active compound. The whole plant of B. diffusa is a very useful source of the drug punarnava, which is documented in Indian Pharmacopoeia as a diuretic.