Boerhavia diffusa

Red spiderling

Family: Nyctaginaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Red spiderling is a naturalized perennial found in Yolo County in disturbed places, often along sandy or gravelly river areas at elevations below 50 meters. Flowering essentially all year, this plant produces small red-purple flowers approximately 1 to 1.5 millimeters long arranged in compact umbels of 3 to 5 blooms. Growing with decumbent to erect stems less than 1 meter tall that are nearly smooth, it spreads with broadly lanceolate to round leaves that are glabrous or minutely fuzzy. Its leaves have a soft, spreading character with subtle variations in shape from broadly lance-like to almost circular. The fruit develops with stalked glands along its ribs, creating a distinctive textural appearance with a broadly conical tip 3 to 4.5 millimeters long.

Habitat: Disturbed places, often in sand, gravel along rivers

Bloom period: +- all year

Elevation: < 50 m

Bioregions: ScV (Yolo Co.)

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.