Boerhavia diffusa
Species of flowering plant
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Through Ayurveda, Native species and Arabian Peninsula
Description
Boerhavia diffusa is widely dispersed, occurring throughout India (where it is known as punarnava and used in Ayurveda,), the Pacific, and southern United States. Flowers are small, around 5 mm in diameter. Pollens are round, roughly 65 microns in diameter.
This wide range is explained by its small fruit, which are very sticky and grow a few inches off the ground, ideally placed to latch on to small migratory birds as they walk by.
Habit
A creeping, perennial, much-branched herb with stout fusi form roots.
Stem
Branches divaricate, stem purplish, thickened at nodes.
Leaves
Opposite, oblique, ovate or sub orbicular, rounded, entire, margins slightly pinkish, wavy, lower surface with small, white scales, base rounded.
Inflorescence
Small umbels forming Corymbose, axillary and terminal panicle.
Flowers
- Bracteoles, acute. Perianth -tube constricted above the ovary, limb funnel-shaped, dark-pink, with 5 vertical bands outside.
- Stamens 2 or 3, slightly exserted, unequal.
- Ovary superior, oblique, ovule 1, erect, stigma.
Fruit
Achene rounded, 6-ribbed.
Seed
Minute, albuminous with endosperm. Embryo curved.
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Distribution
A true and accurate accounting of the native range of Boerhavia diffusa has not been determined. However, it is very widespread, and has become naturalized in many places. It is believed to be a native plant to the following places in:
- Africa —
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.
- Asia —
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Cambodia, China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, and Yunnan), India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan (Punjab, Sind, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan), the Philippines, southern Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Also, on the Arabian Peninsula in Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen (Socotra).
- North America —
Mexico, and the U.S. (in the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina).
- Caribbean —
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 the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- South America —
Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
- South Pacific —
Fiji, and New Caledonia.
Chemistry
Boerhavia G and Boerhavia H are two rotenoids isolated from B. diffusa. A quinolone alkaloid, lunamarine, isolated from B. diffusa has shown some in vitro anticancer, antiestrogenic, immunomodulatory, and anti-amoebic activity (particularly against Entamoeba histolytica). The plant contains a protein called BDP-30, presumably a ribosome-inactivating protein.