Based on descriptions by Wagner et al. (1999), Struwig and Siebert (2013) and the Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2016), B. coccinea is a prostrate to ascending perennial herb, approximately 90 cm in height, leafy in lower half, diffusely paniculate in upper half. Stems are covered with very short fine straight erect hairs, branching opposite near base, upward usually becoming alternative by suppression of one branch of a pair, angle of branching is wide.
Related invasive species
- Boerhavia coccinea
Related Farm Practice
- Flora
- Suppression
Boerhavia coccinea is a low-lying, sprawling, perennial herb. The plant produces stems that can exceed a metre in length. The flowers are often bright scarlet to red-violet in colour but can be shades of pink, yellow or white. It grows in a wide variety of habitats, such as disturbed, rocky and sandy ground, cultivation edges, waste places, roadsides, seashore and dry riverbeds. It is a widespread pantropical plant whose native range is uncertain, but probably encompasses the southern USA, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. It has been introduced into Asia, Africa, Australia and some of the Pacific islands, including the Hawaiian Islands. In Hawaii, B. coccinea is an invasive species threatening native plant species and a noxious weed, rapidly spreading and now common in coastal or slightly inland disturbed places such as roadsides.
B. coccinea occurs as a serious weed in upland crops (including upland rice, Oryza sativa) in Gambia (Terry, 1981).